Quality-of-Life Changes to Data Reduction Codes for Radio Observation
In February of 2022, the ALFALFA research group began observing galaxies hosting supernovae with the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The resulting and incoming data requires reduction to extract important information, such as velocity, velocity width, and flux. In this project, we worked on implementing quality-of-life changes to an existing Python package to improve the experience of the researchers that will be using it. I worked on optimizing bottlenecks in the code to reduce calculation runtime, preventing the user from incorrectly using the package, allowing the user to complete reduction of several galaxies in a single program execution, and creating clearer prompts and pop-ups to guide the user. Additionally, through this project, I learned how to construct a Python package for public use, educate undergraduate researchers on the use and importance of the package, and effectively communicate progress and utilize GitHub in a small group setting.