I'm an astronomer and visualization scientist working at IPAC, a science and data center for astrophysics and planetary science at Caltech. The bulk of my career has been in support of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, but I have done communications work for many other NASA missions across the spectrum including Kepler, WISE/NEOWISE, NuSTAR, GALEX, as well as other projects connected to Caltech like ZTF, LIGO, and EHT. I've also been involved with many other aspects of the science visualization community including the development of metadata standards for astrophysics outreach.
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Currently I contribute to a number of projects associated with NASA's Universe of Learning, which helps lifelong learners explore the wonders of the cosmos. This includes AstroPix, offering a rich collection of astronomical imagery rich in metadata, and Universe Unplugged, a site offering a wide variety of videos and live streams on astronomical themes. I also contribute to the "AstroViz" Community of Practice, which seeks to connect and support the people with interests in visualization for public communications.
Robert Hurt, "Astrovizicist"
Professional Interests
Visual Rendering of Astronomical Data
One of my primary jobs since 2000 has been to produce publication-quality renderings of astronomical observations. Following the lead of luminaries and peers in the field like David Malin (AAO) and Zoltan Levay (STScI), I have tried to find the most appealing ways of presenting the science content of datasets accumulated by many missions spanning the spectrum of light beyond the visible.
Science Video Production
The production of science-themed videos to communicate key news results of complex science themes has been a core task since the launch of Spitzer in 2003, but has expanded to include a variety of astronomy topics. I have been the principle producer of Spitzer's Hidden Universe podcast series.
Metadata Standards for Astrophysics Outreach
The Astronomy Visualization Metadata (AVM) project, in development since 2004, is a collaboration between many top observatories around the world. As the project lead, I've helped to define and implement the standard which has contributed to the accessibility of astronomy imagery to the public and informal education.