Meet Norman A Grogin - Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Branch Manager at STScI

We are honoring Norman Grogin, PhD in celebration of the 34 years launch anniversary of Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Currently, Hubble boasts four active instruments: ACS, COS, STIS, and WFC3.

Norman holds the role of Branch Manager for the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument at Hubble. His journey at STScI began in 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow after completing his PhD in Astronomy. Norman played a pivotal role in the repair of ACS during NASA's HST Servicing Mission 4 in 2009, ensuring its restoration to near-full capability, followed by the Servicing Mission Orbital Verification (SMOV) in 2009.

Norman's contributions to Hubble extend beyond ACS, as he collaborates with other instrument teams to support the mission.

We asked Norman Grogin, PhD , regarding his experience at STScI and his contributions to the Hubble Mission.

• Can you tell us about the journey at STScI that led to your current role?

My journey at STScI originally began in 1999, when I was hired as a postdoctoral fellow just after receiving my PhD in Astronomy. After my fellowship concluded, I worked at a couple different universities as a 'soft money' research scientist.? In 2008,? STScI hired me into its long-term research staff, supporting the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). At the time, ACS was largely broken-down, and there were ambitious plans for astronauts to repair it as part of NASA's HST Servicing Mission 4.? That servicing mission in 2009 was a huge success, including the restoration of ACS to near-full capability.? Four years later, a 'promotion cascade' led to the vacancy of the ACS Team Lead position, and I stepped up to lead the team.? I have been leading the ACS Team ever since, for the last 11 years.

• How have you been supporting the Hubble Telescope?

Before I became ACS Team Lead, I completed a succession of ACS detector studies, and also supported the HST Servicing Mission 4 repair of ACS.? This latter effort included both real-time support while the astronauts were grappling the telescope, as well as longer-term projects to validate the repaired ACS operating modes and to re-characterize the performance of the detectors. After I became ACS Team Lead, my priority shifted to assigning, coordinating, and reporting on all the ACS work, more than directly involving myself with it.? I also now support HST more broadly via cooperative projects with the other HST instrument teams.

• What is the most memorable thing about your work with Hubble’s instrumentation?

Despite it occurring early in my STScI tenure, the most memorable thing about my work with Hubble’s instrumentation has been my involvement with the HST Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) and the immediately subsequent Servicing Mission Orbital Verification (SMOV), back in 2009.? Unlike anything I have experienced since, this was an exhaustively planned and rehearsed multi-month all-hands-on-deck effort, sometimes conducted under extreme time-pressure, with the eyes of the world trained eagerly upon our results.? I still remember clearly that palpable sense of pride, when the ACS Team released to the world our SMOV 'second first-light' HST image from our primary CCD camera, newly restored to life by SM4.

• What excites you most about the future of your instrument and the Hubble Telescope?

With the late-2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its fantastic achievements since, I personally and STScI broadly are realizing the long-hoped-for dream of having both HST and JWST working in tandem to expand the frontiers of our astronomy knowledge.? HST's Advanced Camera for Surveys is incomparably well matched to provide the visible-light counterpart images to JWST's infrared-light images.? The both together are often necessary for a proper understanding of many phenomena that astronomers are currently investigating.? As we are still in the early days of JWST, I am excited most by the prospect of many more years of amazing discoveries enabled by ACS and by Hubble's other detectors, complementing JWST's new eye on the faint infrared universe.