My main focus of study involves instrumental design, development, and use in both astronomy and physics. I am currently mainly involved in observations of comets and asteroids by various methods, and futher development of the University of Maryland Optical Observatory, while maintaining participation in observations of man-made satellites of the Earth, further development of the University of Maryland Amplitude Interferometers, and pursuit of optics-related consultation and collaborative projects with private industry.

I received my Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1982, in Physics with an Astronomy minor.

My experience includes:
o design and development of a number of different observing instruments, including astronomical refractometers, auto-guiders, stellar interferometers, balloon-borne atmospheric dispersion instrumentation, CCD imagers and spectrographs, and telescope control systems, many of these automated or semi-automated in operation;
o contributions to research in observational astronomy and theoretical astrophysics, satellite and lunar laser ranging, experimental general relativity, optical computation and holography, solid state physics, applied mathematics, and meteorology;
o research, academic, and business programming in a variety of languages under a number of different operating systems using several types of computers; and
o teaching and tutoring astronomy, physics, and mathematics at both undergraduate and graduate levels.


ADS Listing for Dennis Wellnitz
Astro-PH Listing for Dennis Wellnitz