Berhanu Bulcha

Experience

1. Research Engineer

   Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center

   Nov 2016 — Present · Greenbelt, MD, US

   1) SOFIA-HIRMES (High Resolution Mid-Infrared Spectrometer)-Astrophysics and Planetary Science Applications: the spectrometer is optimized to detect neutral atomic oxygen, water, as well as heavy hydrogen molecules at infrared wavelengths between 28 and 112 µm. These wavelengths are key to determining how water vapor, ice, and oxygen combine at different times during planet formation, and will enable new observations of how these elements combine with dust to form the mass that may one day become a planet.2) Micro-Spec (µ-Spec)-Astrophysics Applications: spectrometer operating in the 300-600 GHz frequency range. This direct detector resides on a 100-mm-diameter mono-crystalline silicon chip and is realized with planar superconducting circuitry. The spectrometer will collect the sub-millimeter radiation from the telescope via a broadband slot antenna followed by a power combiner and delay network to cause phase retardation at the transmit antenna array. The transmitting antennas radiate the signal through a two dimensional (2-D) multimode region (silicon with thickness of 0.45µm) and the beams are combined at the receiving antennas. The signal go through order-sorting filters and will be detected using an array of MKIDs.3) Micromachining mm-wave components-Instrument development: working on THz waveguide structures to integrate mm-wave devices. 4) THz Receiver-Planetary Science Applications: developing candidate THz instruments to detect H2O from the plumes of Saturn and Jupiter’s moons-Europa and Enceladus indicate that these satellites have hidden subsurface oceans.5) Payload Technical Advisor for the GUSTO Mission Manager -Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) mission to provide the first complete study of all phases of the stellar life cycle, from the formation of molecular clouds, through star birth and evolution, to the formation of gas clouds and the re-initiation of the cycle.

Education

• University of Virginia

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

  2011 — 2015

• Virginia Commonwealth University

  Bachelor's degree

  2007 — 2010

Skills

• Microsoft Office
• Thz Mixer Design
• Microwave
• Antennas
• R
• Semiconductors
• Leadership
• Matlab
• R&D
• Agilent Ads
• Rf Test
• Research
• Semiconductor Lasers
• Ansys
• Research and Development (R&D)