Kyle K.

About Kyle K.

Kyle is a PhD graduate in Physics from the University of California, Irvine, currently working at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) in NASA’s Ames Research Center as a Data Scientist. At BAERI, Kyle works as part of the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), a team that combines high performance/cloud Computing, data modeling and analysis, big remote sensing data (TBs - PBs), and meaningful science. His role involves developing a processing pipeline for point cloud data taken from aerial lidar and using both supervised and unsupervised machine learning approaches to detect the presence of clouds in satellite images. During his PhD, he developed a custom Python-based software for the purpose of weighing supermassive black holes, which he applied to 8 unique datasets for his thesis. After reading Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time at 16, Kyle developed a passion for science, and he has been a life longer learner ever since. Kyle has had a variety of research experiences since his undergraduate days at UC Merced. From creating nanoparticle mixtures in the lab and investigating their properties under microscope, to riding on NASA’s “Flying Laboratory” DC-8 to understand the effects of drought on pollution, to peering through large telescopes and studying black holes in distant galaxies, Kyle is a versatile problem solver who has demonstrated on multiple occasions the ability to jump into a new field of study and create immediate impact.When he is not doing research, Kyle enjoys creating educational physics, math, and astronomy videos for his growing YouTube channel of over subscribers.

Experience

1. Data Scientist

   Nasa Ames Research Center

   Oct 2023 — Present · Mountain View, CA, US

Education

• UC Irvine

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Physics

  2017

• UC Irvine

  Master of Science - MS, Physics

  2017 — 2019

• University of California, Merced

  Bachelor of Science (BS), Physics

  2013 — 2017