J. Xavier Prochaska

J. Xavier Prochaska is a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) and an Astronomer at the University of California Observatories (UCO). His research focuses on absorption-line analysis using bright background sources like quasars and gamma-ray bursts to study the intergalactic and stellar medium in galaxies.

• Key research initiatives: Inter(galactic+stellar) Medium Program of Studies (IMPS), ENIGMA
• Projects: QPQ (Quasar Proximity Quasar), DLA (Damped Lyman-alpha systems), ESI/Keck/HIRES spectral analysis, SDSS LLS (Lyman Limit Systems)

He developed the XIDL and LowRedux software packages for spectral data reduction. His work is supported by NSF grant AST 03-07408.

Professional activities include membership on the Keck/SSC (Science Steering Committee) and leadership in data reduction pipelines for instruments like Keck/LRIS, Lick/KAST, and Gemini/GMOS. He has contributed extensively to open-source IDL routines and documentation.