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Date:  Fri, May 08, 2026
Time:  12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location:  Holmes Hall 244
Speaker:  Dr. Branden Allen, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Engineering

Please register by noon on Thursday, 5/7/26: https://forms.gle/efNBFQTYQiSzxkAQ6

ECE Graduate Students: This will count towards your seminar credit.

Abstract:

The Space Science and Engineering Initiative (SSEI) was established in August of 2024 and is dedicated to the development of technologies supporting ground-based astronomy, as well as the development of technologies to expand participation and leadership by UHM in NASA supported spaceflight programs supporting astrophysics.

Branden will discuss the SSEI and give an overview of the faculty and the broader research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, followed by an overview of his own research program within the Hilo-based Advanced Detector Development and Engineering Research (ADDER) lab and discuss the newly selected ALLSTARRS program for the extension of the life and expansion of the capabilities of the Pan-STARRS telescopes on Haleakala.

Biography:

Branden Allen is a Technologist, Astronomer, and Planetary Scientist, who has spent his career at the intersection of detector development, aerospace, and the space sciences. He specializes in the creation and deployment of spaceflight X- and gamma-ray detector technologies, has played a leading role in 2 successful high-altitude balloon campaigns as well as the conception, design, and operation of a soft X-ray (0.3--10 keV) imaging spectrometer for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission to help carry out in situ global characterization of the near Earth asteroid, 101955 Bennu.

He joined the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Aug. 2024 and is the inaugural program lead for the Space Science and Engineering Initiative (SSEI): a collaborative effort between the College of Engineering (CoE) and Institute for Astronomy (IfA). There he has initiated (1) a new detector development program for the creation of the next generation of finely pixelated CdZnTe (CZT) and MCT Infrared detector arrays, (2) is leading the proposed Portable Lunar Observer for Volatiles, Environment and Resources (PLOVER), an instrument package designed for flexible deployment within the framework of the NASA-led Lunar Gateway and Artemis Programs, (3) is developing concepts for future spaceflight opportunities in astrophysics targeting time-domain and multi-messenger astrophysics (TDAMM), and (4) is leading Advanced Large-area Low-cost Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (ALLSTARRS) program to carry out a preliminary design for the upgrade of the Pan-STARRS telescopes on Haleakala.