November 19
Impact of AI on Scientific Coding: An Astronomer's Account
Speaker: Israel Martinez Castellanos, UMD ASTR/GSFC
Abstract: Researchers are increasingly writing code with the help of AI tools, moving from traditional workflows to chatbots and, more recently, AI agents. In this seminar, Dr. Israel Martinez Castellanos will describe how these tools have changed his own approach to coding. We will also discuss broader implications for training new students, and the future of scientific programming. This will involve a discussion component, so please bring your questions!
Speaker Bio: Israel Martinez Castellanos (PhD, 2019, UMD) is a research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland (CRESST). He studies high energy astrophysical sources, including gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. He is also a member of the science pipeline team for the upcoming COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) space telescope, where he leads development of the Python analysis software.
BANG! Organizers:
Matt Lastovka (he/him)
Cole Smith (he/him)