DAVID LEISAWITZ

david.t.leisawitz@nasa.gov

Educations:

B.S., Cum Laude, Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1979
M.A., Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, 1981
Ph.D., Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, 1985 (Thesis advisor: Dr.
Frank Bash)

Research Interests:

Dr. Leisawitz studies star
formation and is particularly interested in the formation of planets and the
interactions of massive stars with the interstellar medium.

Positions:

Dr. Leisawitz joined the Goddard
Space Flight Center in 1993 to develop and manage the Cosmic Background
Explorer (COBE) Guest Investigator Program. In this role he oversaw the
creation of the COBE data products.
He was pleased to return to Goddard,
where he had previously been Dr. Michael Hauser's National Research Council
(NRC) Research Associate, after having spent two years at Penn State
participating in the development of flight sofware
for the X-ray Multi-mirror mission (XMM) Optical Monitor Telescope. In the
final year of the COBE mission, Dr. Leisawitz became Deputy Project Scientist,
assisting Project Scientist Dr. John Mather with project management duties.

While the COBE mission was winding down, Dr. Leisawitz
teamed up with Drs. John Mather and Harvey Moseley
and developed a concept for a far-infrared interferometry
mission called the Submillimeter Probe of the
Evolution of Cosmic Structure (SPECS). SPECS will address four areas of great
current interest: the search for the first condensations - the Population III
stars - formed early in the evolution of the Universe; the luminosity evolution
of galaxies over the eons; the formation of stars; and the evolution of
protostellar disks to give rise to planetary systems. We
won support for this idea from the National Academy of Sciences in the Decadal
Review Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium.
With subsequent endorsement from NASA's Space Science Advisory Committee,
SPECS was added to the roadmaps for the Universe Division in NASA’s Science Mission
Division,
Astronomical Search for Origins and
Structure and Evolution
of the Universe.

In recent years, as SPECS Study Scientist, Dr. Leisawitz
has been coordinating and participating in the development of the key mission
enabling technologies for SPECS, working to refine the mission concept, and
developing design concepts for a pathfinder interferometer called the Space
Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT). SPIRIT
is under study as a candidate Origins Probe mission. Dr. Leisawitz
is Principal Investigator of a research project titled "Wide-field Imaging
Interferometry." Working with a team of Goddard
optical engineers and Observational Cosmology Lab colleague Dr. Stephen
Rinehart, Dr. Leisawitz developed the Wide-field
Imaging Interferometry Testbed
(WIIT) to demonstrate and refine a technique for wide-field imaging
interferometry applicable to optical/IR wavelengths. The
WIIT, which works at optical wavelengths, is a laboratory model of
SPIRIT or SPECS, scaled proportionately in size and wavelength. Dr. Leisawitz
also participates in research to develop and
validate tethered formation flying, a technique that has potential to enable a
space-based long baseline stellar interferometer to sample the u-v plane
densely, and therefore to yield high-quality images.
Finally, Dr. Leisawitz is leading a technology
development effort for cryogenic large-aperture mirrors, which will be needed
for the Single Aperture Far-IR (SAFIR) telescope, as well as SPIRIT and SPECS.
He is also engaged in SAFIR mission design studies.

Dr. Leisawitz enjoys the teamwork and
consensus-building aspects of his job. He organized two community workshops,
one in 1999 and another in 2002, and co-authored the Community
Plan for Far-IR/Submillimeter Space Astronomy,
which gave the consensus view of the 2002 workshop
participants. The Community Plan is intended as a practical guide to
implementing the Decadal Report recommendation that NASA build SAFIR and,
ultimately, a kilometer maximum baseline far-IR interferometer (SPECS), with
SPIRIT as a step toward SPECS.

Dr. Leisawitz is Mission Scientist for the Wide-field Infrared Survey
Explorer (WISE) mission. (Dr. Edward L. Wright of UCLA is the Principal
Investigator.) WISE will map the entire sky with unprecedented sensitivity in
the wavelength range 3.5 to 23 microns to establish an essential database for
testing theories of the origins of planets, stars and galaxies, and is a
science pathfinder for the James
Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Dr. Leisawitz has devoted significant effort to
Education and Public Outreach for over 20 years through mentoring, K-12
classroom lectures, public lectures, science fair judging, and the development
of novel educational products, such as the Multiwavelength Milky Way poster
and a 30-minute video called
The
Milky Way’s Invisible Light. To develop these products Dr. Leisawitz
has collaborated with fellow scientists Drs. Seth
Digel, Mona Kessel, and
Beth Brown, with technical illustrators Ms. Sarah Geitz
and Mr. Jay Friedlander, and with professional educators. Some 100,000 copies
of the Multiwavelength Milky Way poster
have been distributed on request to locations in more than 47 nations around
the world, and to sites all over the United States. As a graduate
student in the early 1980s, while working at NASA’s Goddard Institute for
Space Studies in New York City, Dr. Leisawitz gave weekly astronomy lessons
to second graders in Public School No. 3 in Greenwich Village over
two consecutive school years. In recent years he has participated as a
classroom lecturer in the Challenger Center’s “Window on the Universe”
program, which brings scientific educational experiences to underserved
children in the Washington, DC public schools. He is
particularly fond of speaking to school children about the Milky Way, future
NASA space science missions, the methods and philosophy of science, and science
as a career. Dr. Leisawitz has been a mentor to an
Honors Undergraduate student at Penn State and a Meyerhoff Fellow, two engineers
in the Professional Intern Program, two NASA Faculty Fellows, two teacher interns,
and nine student interns at Goddard. He was advisor to Senior NRC Research
Associate Dr. Lee Mundy (University of Maryland), and NRC
Research Associates Drs. Stephen A. Rinehart, Beth A. Brown, and Zhiyu Guo.

Dr. Leisawitz is a member of the American
Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.
He has received four Goddard Space Flight Center Special Act awards
and a GSFC Research Fellowship. The Research Fellowship enabled him to spend a
sabbatical year (2002-03) at the University of Maryland and the Naval
Research Laboratory.

Publications:

*“Wide-field Imaging Interferometry: Enabling General Astrophysics
Observations With TPF-I/Darwin,” D. Leisawitz,
S. Rinehart, T. Armstrong, B. Frey, D. Leviton,
L. Lobsinger, R. Lyon, A. Martino, L. Mundy, and
T. Pauls, in Evolution and Detection of
Habitable Planets, S. Unwin, ed.,

http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/TPFDarwinConf/confProceedings.cfm (2004)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging Interferometry Testbed:
Progress, Results, and Future Plans,” S. Rinehart, D. Leisawitz,
T. Armstrong, B. Frey, D. Leviton, L. Lobsinger, R.
Lyon, A. Martino, L. Mundy, and T. Pauls, in
Evolution and Detection of Habitable Planets, S. Unwin,
ed.,

http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/TPFDarwinConf/confProceedings.cfm (2004)

*“A SPECS Update:
Engineering and Technology Requirements for a Space-based Far-IR Imaging
Interferometer,” D. Leisawitz, R. Allen,
C.L. Baker, D. Benford, C. Bombardelli,
M.J. DiPirro, P. Ehrenfreund,
N. Evans, M. Harwit, T.T. Hyde, A. Labeyrie, J. Leitner, A.
Liu, E. Lorenzini, R.G. Lyon, J.C. Mather, K. Menten, S.H.
Moseley, L.G. Mundy, T. Nakagawa, S. Ollendorf,
D.A. Quinn, S.A. Rinehart, J. Roman, S. Satyapal,
R.F. Silverberg, H.P. Stahl, M. Swain, T.D. Swanson, W. Traub, E.L. Wright, and H.W. Yorke,
in New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry,”
W. Traub, ed., Proc. SPIE, 5491, 212 (2004)

*“SPECS: The
Kilometer-baseline Far-IR Interferometer in NASA's Space Science
Roadmap,” D. Leisawitz, T. Abel, R. Allen,
D. Benford, A. Blain, C. Bombardelli,
D. Calzetti, M.J. DiPirro,
P. Ehrenfreund, N. Evans, J. Fischer, M. Harwit, T.T. Hyde, M.J. Kuchner,
J. Leitner, E. Lorenzini,
J.C. Mather, K. Menten,
S.H. Moseley, L.G. Mundy, T. Nakagawa, D. Neufeld, S.A. Rinehart, J.
Roman, S. Satyapal, R.F. Silverberg, H.P. Stahl,
M. Swain, T.D. Swanson, W. Traub, E.L. Wright,
and H.W. Yorke, in Optical, IR, and Millimeter
Space Telescopes, J.C. Mather, ed., Proc. SPIE,
5487, 1527 (2004)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging
Interferometry Testbed:
Progress, Results, and Future Plans,” S. Rinehart, D. Leisawitz, T. Armstrong, B. Frey,
D. Leviton, L. Lobsinger, R.
Lyon, A. Martino, L. Mundy, and T. Pauls, in New
Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry, W. Traub, ed., Proc. SPIE, 5491, 920 (2004)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging
Interferomtry Testbed:
Characterization and Calibration,” S. Rinehart, L. Lobsinger, T. Armstrong,
B. Frey, D. Leisawitz, D. Leviton, R.
Lyon, A. Martino, L. Mundy, and T. Pauls in New
Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry, W. Traub, ed., Proc. SPIE, 5491, 1790 (2004)

*“Wide-Field Interferometric Imaging: A Powerful Tool for the
Terrestrial Planet Finder,” S.A. Rinehart, D.T. Leisawitz,
B.J. Frey, D.B. Leviton, L.W. Lobsinger, A.J. Martino, and L.G. Mundy, in The Search
for Other Worlds, S.S. Holt & D. Deming, ed., AIP Conf. Proc., 713,
305 (2004)

*“Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR) Observatory,”
D.J. Benford, M.J. Amato, J.C. Mather,
S.H. Moseley, Jr., and D.T. Leisawitz, Ap.Sp.Sci., 294, 177 (2004)

*“The Science Case and
Mission Concept for the Single Aperture Far-Infrared (SAFIR)
Observatory,” D. Lester, D. Benford, A.
Blain, C.M. Bradford, M. Dragovan, W. Langer, C.
Lawrence, D. Leisawitz, J. Mather,
S.H. Moseley, L. Mundy, G. Rieke, G. Stacey, H. Yorke, and E. Young, in Optical, IR, and Millimeter
Space Telescopes, J.C. Mather, ed., Proc. SPIE, 5487, 1507 (2004)

*“Mirror Requirements
for the Single-Aperture Far-IR (SAFIR) Telescope,” P. Stahl, D. Benford, and D. Leisawitz,
in Optical, IR, and Millimeter Space Telescopes, J.C. Mather,
ed., Proc. SPIE 5487, 1613 (2004)

*“SPECS: The
Kilometer-baseline Far-IR Interferometer in NASA's Space Science
Roadmap,” in Second International Symp. on
Formation Flying Missions and Technologies, J. Leitner,
ed.,
http://gsfctechnology.gsfc.nasa.gov/formFlyConf/ (2004)

*“NASA’s Far-IR/Submillimeter Roadmap Missions SAFIR and SPECS,”
D. Leisawitz, invited paper presented at the
34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Session E1.5 on Astronomy at IR/Submm Wavelengths and the Microwave Background,
P. Wesselius, ed., Adv. Sp. Res., 34, 631 (2004)

*“Star and Planet Formation as
Seen Through the Eyes of NASA’s Far-IR/ Submillimeter
Roadmap Missions SAFIR and SPECS,” D. Leisawitz,
D.J. Benford, M. Kuchner,
D. Lester, J.C. Mather, D. Neufeld, and H.W. Yorke, in Star Formation at High Angular Resolution,
Proc. IAU Symp. 221, Sydney, Australia,
poster presentation (
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/iau221/poster_pres.htm)
(2003)

*“Prospecting
for Heavy Elements with Future Far-IR/ Submillimeter
Observatories,” D. Leisawitz, D.J. Benford, A. Kashlinsky, C.R.
Lawrence, J.C. Mather,
S.H. Moseley, S.A. Rinehart, R.F. Silverberg, and H.W. Yorke in
proc. Origins 2002 Conf. The Heavy Element Trail From Galaxies to
Habitable Worlds, C. Woodward, ed., in press (2003)

*Proceedings of the Second Workshop
on New Concepts for Far-IR/ Submillimeter Space
Astronomy, D.J. Benford & D.T. Leisawitz, eds. (Washington, DC: NASA), NASA
CP-2003-212233 (2003)

*
“Community Plan for Far-IR/Sub-mm Space
Astronomy,” in proc. New Concepts for Far-Infrared and Submillimeter Space Astronomy, D.J. Benford & D.T. Leisawitz,
eds. (Washington, DC: NASA), NASA CP-2003-212233, p. xv - xxv (2003)

*“Infrared Light Curves
of Mira Variable Stars from COBE DIRBE Data,” B.J. Smith, D. Leisawitz, M.W. Castelaz,
and D. Luttermoser, AJ, 123, 948 (2002)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging
Interferometry Testbed
I: Purpose, Testbed Design, Data, and Synthesis
Algorithms,” D. Leisawitz, B.J. Frey, D.B.
Leviton, A.J. Martino, W.L. Maynard, L.G. Mundy,
S.A. Rinehart, S.H. Teng, and X. Zhang, in Interferometry in Space, M. Shao,
ed., Proc. SPIE, 4852, 255 (2002)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging
Interferometry Testbed
II: Implementation, Performance, and Plans,” S.A. Rinehart, B.J.
Frey, D. Leisawitz, D.B. Leviton,
A.J. Martino, W.L. Maynard, L.G. Mundy, S.H. Teng,
and X. Zhang, in Interferometry in Space, M. Shao, ed., Proc. SPIE, 4852, 674 (2002)

*“The Wide-Field Imaging
Interferometry Testbed
III. Metrology Subsystem,” D.B. Leviton,
B.J. Frey, D.T. Leisawitz, A.J. Martino, W.L.
Maynard, L.G. Mundy, S.A. Rinehart, S.H. Teng,
and X. Zhang, in Interferometry in Space, M. Shao, ed., Proc. SPIE, 4852, 827 (2002)

*“Probing the Invisible
Universe: The Case for Far-IR/ Submillimeter Interferometry,” D. Leisawitz,
T. Armstrong, D. Benford, A. Blain, K. Borne W.
Danchi, N. Evans, J. Gardner, D. Gezari, M. Harwit, A. Kashlinsky, W.
Langer, C. Lawrence, P. Lawson, D. Lester, J. Mather,
S. H. Moseley, L. Mundy, G. Rieke, S. Rinehart,
M. Shao, R. Silverberg, D. Spergel,
J. Staguhn, M. Swain, W. Traub,
S. Unwin, E. Wright, H. Yorke,
a "mission white paper" submitted to NASA's SEU Roadmap
Committee (2002)

*“Charting the Winds
that Change the Universe: Far Infrared and Sub-mm Astronomy,” G.H. Rieke, M. Bicay, S. Casey,
G. Melnick, J. Peterson, P. Richards, M. Werner,
C. Wilson, D. Backman, J. Bechtold,
K. Borne, A. Boss, C. Engelbracht, E. Gawiser, W. Langer, W. Latter, C. Lawrence, D. Leisawitz, D. Lester, M. Meyer, A. Quillen,
S. Radford, M. Seiffert, D. Spergel,
A. Wootten, H. Yorke,
and E. Young, a "mission white paper" submitted to NASA's SEU
Roadmap Committee (2002)

*“The Science Potential
of Far-IR/Sub-mm Interferometry and Concepts for
the SPIRIT and SPECS Missions,” D. Leisawitz,
in Galaxies and their Constituents at the Highest Angular Resolutions,
Proc. IAU Symp. 205, R.T. Schilizzi,
ed. (San Francisco: ASP), p. 438 (2001)

*“Space-based Interferometric Telescopes for the Far
Infrared,” M. Shao, W. Danchi, M.J. DiPirro, M. Dragovan, L.D.
Feinberg, M. Hagopian, W.D. Langer, C.R.
Lawrence, P.R. Lawson, D.T. Leisawitz, J.C. Mather, S. H. Moseley, M.R. Swain, H.W. Yorke, and X. Zhang, in Interferometry
in Optical Astronomy, P.J. Lena & A. Quirrenbach,
eds., Proc. SPIE, 4006, 772 (2000)

*“Scientific Motivation
and Technology Requirements for the SPIRIT and SPECS Far-infrared/Submillimeter Space Interferometers,” D.T. Leisawitz, W.C. Danchi, M.J. DiPirro,
L.D. Feinberg, D.Y. Gezari, M. Hagopian, W.D. Langer, J.C. Mather,
S.H. Moseley, M. Shao, R.F. Silverberg, J. Staguhn, M.R. Swain, H.W. Yorke,
and X. Zhang, in UV, Optical, and IR Space Telescopes and Instruments,
J.B. Breckinridge & P. Jakobsen, eds., Proc.
SPIE, 4013, 36 (2000)

*“The COBE Diffuse
Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background.
III. Separation of Galactic Emission from the Infrared Sky
Brightness,” R.G. Arendt, N. Odegard, J.L. Weiland, T.J. Sodroski, M.G. Hauser, E. Dwek,
T. Kelsall, S.H. Moseley, R.F. Silverberg, D. Leisawitz, K. Mitchell, W.T. Reach, and E.L. Wright, ApJ, 508, 74 (1998)

*“The COBE Diffuse
Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background.
IV. Cosmological Implications,” E. Dwek,
R.G. Arendt, M.G. Hauser, D. Fixsen,
T. Kelsall, D. Leisawitz,
Y.C. Pei, E.L. Wright, J.C. Mather,
S.H. Moseley, N. Odegard, R. Shafer, R.F.
Silverberg, and J.L. Weiland, ApJ, 508, 106 (1998)

*“Comparison of the COBE
FIRAS and DIRBE Calibrations,” D.J. Fixsen,
J.L. Weiland, S. Brodd,
M.G. Hauser, T. Kelsall, D.T. Leisawitz, J.C. Mather, K.A.
Jensen, R.A. Schafer, and R.F. Silverberg, ApJ,
490, 482 (1997)

*“COBE/DIRBE
Observations of the Orion Constellation from the Near- to
Far-Infrared,” W.F. Wall, W.T. Reach, M.G. Hauser, R.G. Arendt, J.L. Weiland, G.B. Berriman, C.L. Bennett, E. Dwek,
D. Leisawitz, P.M. Mitra,
S.F. Odenwald, T.J. Sodroski,
and G.N. Toller, ApJ,
456, 566 (1996)

*“Far-Infrared Spectral
Observations of the Galaxy by COBE,” W.T. Reach, E. Dwek, D.J. Fixsen, T. Hewagama, J.C. Mather, R.A.
Shafer, A.J. Banday, C.L. Bennett, E.S. Cheng,
R.E. Eplee, Jr., D. Leisawitz,
P.M. Lubin, S.M. Read, L.P. Rosen, F.G.D.
Shuman, G.F. Smoot, T.J. Sodroski, and E.L.
Wright, ApJ, 451, 188 (1995)

*“A Model for the
Infrared Emission from an OB Star Cluster
Environment,” D. Leisawitz, ApJS, 77, 451 (1991)

*“A CO Survey of Regions
Around 34 Open Clusters. II - Physical Properties of Cataloged Molecular
Clouds,” D. Leisawitz, ApJ,
359, 319 (1990)

*“A CO Survey of Regions
Around 34 Open Clusters,” D. Leisawitz,
F.N. Bash, and P. Thaddeus, ApJS, 70, 731 (1989)

Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR)

Key Staff

Contact Us