Employment: Carl Grillmair — Caltech IPAC (~1996–2026)

Carl Grillmair served as a Research Scientist at Caltech IPAC for approximately 30 years until his murder on February 16, 2026. His work included:

• Calibration science for NASA WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)
• Contribution to NEO Surveyor development
• Spitzer Space Telescope infrared instrument teams (IRAC, IRS)
• Vera C. Rubin Observatory contributions
• Virtual Planetary Laboratory (co-investigator)
• Discovery of dozens of stellar streams in the Milky Way's halo
• First detection of water vapor in an exoplanet atmosphere (2007)
• 147 peer-reviewed papers; 3 in preparation at time of death

At time of death: studying comets and asteroids potentially hazardous to Earth, a domain with dual-use overlap with hypersonic tracking and ballistic threat detection.