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About

Ellen Houston is an instrumental figure in astronomical instrumentation, whose work is shaping the next generation of galaxy surveys. Her primary research focuses on the design, construction, and deployment of cutting-edge integral field spectrographs (IFS) and multi-object fibre positioning systems. Houston’s most prominent contribution is her leadership on the **Hector** instrument, a new optical IFS for the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). Commissioned in 2022, Hector is now powering a landmark 15,000-galaxy survey of the nearby universe (z < 0.1), with Houston’s 2024 paper detailing its performance already garnering 5 citations. Beyond Hector, she is a key architect of the **MANIFEST** system for the Giant Magellan Telescope. This innovative design employs ‘Starbug’ robots to position fibre units across the focal plane, dramatically expanding the field of view for instruments like GMACS and GCLEF. As a member of Astralis – Australia’s Astronomical Instrumentation Consortium, Houston’s work is directly enabling the next leap in our understanding of galaxy evolution, bridging the gap between instrument conception and transformative scientific discovery.