Less than a week after Brian Davis Walls graduated from ASU this last May. he was flying aboard a plane to Hawaii and beginning his blind date with destiny. 

Brian spent five glorious years in Boone, N.C. acquiring majors in Computer Science and Physics with a concentration in astronomy. Both degrees made him attractive to the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii where Brian started working on Aug. 1. 

The Gemini project consists of two telescopes, one on Mauna Kea in Hawaii where Brian is working, and a second in Cerro Pachon, Chile. 

Each telescope has a single 8.1- meter mirror.  Used in tandem, the two telescopes will combine the Northern and Southern hemispheres creating a view of the entire sky. 

Scientists from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil are working together to fund and run the project. 

The telescopes instruments deal with infrared light allowing scientists to peer into through dust and gas to regions where stars and planets are forming.  Gemini may give new insight into the activities present in the center of our galaxy. 

Brian’s official title is System Support Associate. When the telescope becomes operational he will begin helping visiting astronomers as they peer out to the distant ends of the universe. 

Currently, he is programming an integration time calculator for the telescope’s near-infrared imager.  Basically, the program tells a scientist how long an instrument’s shutter should be left open to perform a specific experiment. 

Once a month, Brian spends five days on the mountain operating the telescope.  During those five days, he works 12 to 14 hour shifts at the telescope, which is located at 13,824 feet above sea level.  At this height, Brian says he becomes nearly exhausted after climbing the building’s two flights of stairs. 

After a shift, Brian takes an hour drive down to the mid-level facility located at 9,000 feet above sea level.  Here he can eat, shower, watch satellite television  and catch some sleep before he treks back up to the peak. 

Brian has a five-day break following this period. Work hours for the rest of the month are up to his discretion.  He is given projects each month which he is expected to complete but hours are not assigned. 

Brian says the mountain’s summit has snow and sleet on it year-round.  During his five-day stints at the telescope, it is his duty to decide when weather conditions have become so bad that the base should be evacuated. 

Eventually, a fiber optic connection between the telescope, mid-level facility and low-level facility will allow Brian to operate the telescope from any of the three bases. 

Working at the bottom of the mountain will make for much less lightheadedness, but will certainly limit view.  From up on the summit, Brian can look out across a valley and see the twin Keck telescopes. Both Keck telescopes have a 10 meter mirror consisting of many smaller mirrors. 

These 10-meter mirrors are the largest in the world; however, the eight-meter mirror at Brian’s Gemini Observatory is the largest mirror made up of only one solid piece. 

When he’s not evacuating the telescope, Brian’s other interests include racquetball, soccer, bocce ball, and HBO’s Tenacious D.  His turn-ons are satin sheets, bubble baths, quiet sunsets, and HBO’s Tenacious D. 

He lives near the telescope in a three-bedroom house with his girlfriend Jessica Ruepp, who also attended ASU in the art department. 

Rest assured Hawaii is not all fun and games.  Surfing, sunbathing, and sipping exotic drinks all have their price. 

Speaking of prices, imported products that we mainlanders take for granted can be hard to come by in the island state.  A carton of orange juice can cost upwards of $7, and a 12 ounce bottle of Budweiser could set him back $5. 

Brian has done well to place himself in a dream job straight out of college.  He is carrying Appalachian’s torch far across this nation.  However, Brian is not the only shining success to graduate from ASU’s astronomy program. 

Larry Brothers is an Array Operator for the Very Large Array, Barney Novo works for Allied Signal Aerospace, and William Safley programmed the Hubble Space Telescope’s imaging of the Shoemaker-Levy comet impacting Jupiter. Several more graduates are currently working in other jobs with astrophysics-related outputs. 

For more information on the Gemini Observatory, hop on the Internet and go to www.gemini.edu.  The page has a real-time picture of the telescope and a cute but business-like photograph of Brian hard at work.