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About

Dylan Gatlin is an observational astronomer and instrumentation specialist whose work centers on wide-field optical systems for large-scale sky surveys. His most significant contribution to date is his central role in the development and on-sky validation of the new wide-field corrector for the fifth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). In his 2022 paper detailing the corrector’s performance, Gatlin demonstrated how this three-element replacement—optimized for infrared observations—overcame the limitations of the previous two-element design, which suffered from an aspherical focal surface. This upgrade has been critical for SDSS-V’s multi-object spectroscopy and time-domain science. While his citation count is still growing, the impact of his work is already tangible: the corrector is now a key component of one of the most productive survey telescopes in the world, enabling new discoveries across galactic archaeology, black hole physics, and variable star astronomy. Gatlin’s blend of hands-on engineering and observational testing marks him as a rising figure in astronomical instrumentation, with the potential to shape future survey capabilities.