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About

Dan Long is an instrumental astronomer whose work has been critical to advancing wide-field optical and infrared surveys. His primary research areas include astronomical instrumentation, optical design, and survey science, with a major focus on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Long’s most notable contribution is his leadership in the design and on-sky commissioning of the new wide-field corrector for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of this landmark survey. His 2022 paper, which has already garnered early citations, details how this three-element corrector replaced the previous two-element design, overcoming challenges like an aspherical focal surface and enabling optimized performance in the infrared. This upgrade is essential for SDSS-V’s ambitious goals of mapping millions of stars and black holes across the sky. Long’s work directly enhances the survey’s ability to collect high-quality data across a broader wavelength range, impacting fields from Galactic archaeology to time-domain astrophysics. His technical achievements underscore his role as a key figure in modern survey instrumentation, ensuring that SDSS remains at the forefront of astronomical discovery for years to come.