John Vaillancourt (USRA)
Instrument Scientist
jvaillancourt@sofia.usra.edu

Dr. John Vaillancourt completed his undergraduate studies at Boston University and received his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Chicago's Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Before coming to SOFIA he also held post-doctoral positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Caltech (and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory). He has experience in Galactic astrophysics and astronomical instrumentation spanning wavelength ranges from the millimeter to the X-ray. His current research focus is observations of the polarized (thermal) dust emission of the interstellar medium and its implications for dust physics and interactions with Galactic magnetic-fields. A complete list of past and current publications can be found here.

As an Instrument Scientist with SOFIA since 2009, Dr. Vaillancourt will be heavily involved in the final development and subsequent commissioning of SOFIA's suite of first-light instruments.