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About

Justin Howell is a key figure in time-domain astronomy, best known for his instrumental role in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). His research centers on the development and operation of large-scale robotic surveys, with a focus on data processing, archival infrastructure, and the rapid detection of transient astrophysical events. Howell’s major contribution is co-authoring the foundational 2018 paper detailing ZTF’s data processing, products, and archive, which has garnered over 1,170 citations—a testament to its critical importance to the field. This work established the pipeline that enables ZTF to scan the entire northern sky every two nights, capturing supernovae, tidal disruption events, and other fleeting phenomena. Beyond this, Howell has been instrumental in ensuring ZTF’s data are accessible and scientifically robust, directly enabling discoveries by hundreds of researchers worldwide. His achievements include shaping the survey’s operational strategies and contributing to the broader infrastructure of modern time-domain astronomy, making him an essential architect of one of the most productive transient surveys ever built.