Execute a balanced science program based on discipline-specific guidance from the national academies of sciences engineering and medicine administration priorities and direction from congress

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center awarded The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York $169,513 on January 1, 2026, under the Science program (CFDA 43.001) for a project performance period through December 31, 2027.

Columbia will develop and optimize image subtraction algorithms for Roman Space Telescope observations of dense, crowded stellar fields at low Galactic latitudes, with work performed in New York, New York. The effort supports the Science Mission Directorate's strategic objective to expand human knowledge through scientific discoveries using space-based observatories.

Columbia passed $169,513 through to the California Institute of Technology as a sub-recipient. Jacob Jencson at Caltech will test and implement image-differencing techniques into the RAPID image-processing pipeline under development at Caltech's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), integrated with Columbia's algorithm development work.

Participate as a key partner and enabler in the agenc