Dr. Leisenring works primarily on astronomical instrumentation as related to the formation and evolution of planetary systems. In particular, he specializes in advancing detector imaging technology as well as designing and building hardware and software infrastructure focusing on exoplanet discovery. In 2013, he joined the JWST NIRCam team (PI: Dr. Marcia Rieke) at the University of Arizona where optimized and characterized the instrument’s state-of-the-art IR detectors and their control electronics, planned the exoplanet and disk imaging programs as part of the science team, and led the commissioning and calibration effort for NIRCam's coronagraphic observing mode after the launch of JWST in 2021. 

Dr. Leisenring currently directs the University of Arizona Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL) [note: add link to https://www.itl.arizona.edu/] located in the Applied Research Building (ARB) and is a founding member of the Arizona IR Detector (AIRD) Lab operating in the Gould-Simpson Building. ITL has pioneered new semiconductor processing techniques including silicon etching of backside-illuminated CCDs for reduced dark current and increased quantum efficiency, designed thin film coating for imaging sensors, developed packaging techniques for both large format sensors and focal plane mosaics, and built custom software packages [note: add link to https://github.com/mplesser/azcam] and hardware for sensor characterization. Similarly, AIRD endeavors to further the development of IR detector technology, deploy existing IR focal plane arrays into astronomical instruments, and train the next generation of instrument scientists and engineers with practical, hands-on experience.