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Sarik’s research efforts are primarily spread across observation and instrumentation. The observational aspect of his work consists of using data from Gaia and WISE to select optically bright, potentially high-redshift quasar candidates for spectroscopic confirmation, with these quasars ultimately serving as ideal targets for future redshift drift experiments.
His instrumentation work encompasses projects of various scales including optical fiber characterization, the PolyOculus modular telescope array, and the facility-class Mid-Resolution Infrared Astronomical Spectrograph (MIRADAS) built for the 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the latter of which was the primary focus of his PhD thesis work at the University of Florida. As part of the MIRADAS team, Sarik lead various aspects of the assembly, integration, and testing of MIRADAS, both in the lab and at GTC as part of the initial commissioning team.
Sarik joined the Dunlap Institute in January 2023 and plans to continue his quasar search while also working on various aspects of the Dunlap Institute’s Gemini Infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph (GIRMOS) as well as the Little UV Space (LUVS) Telescope.
