Saeko S. Hayashi (born 1958, Japanese: 林 左絵子) is a Japanese astronomer based in Hawaii whose research interests include star formation, protoplanetary disks, the atmosphere of exoplanets, and the construction and optics of large telescopes.
[1] She is an associate professor of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and The Graduate University for Advanced Studies and a founding astronomer of Japan's based Subaru Telescope.
After three years working at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, she began working on the Subaru Telescope through the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in 1990.
[2] Although she performed the initial project work in Tokyo, she returned to Hawaii during its construction, and has remained there for the rest of her career.
[5] Her research focus has shifted from radio astronomy in graduate school, through submillimeter astronomy in her postdoctoral work at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, to optical telescopy subsequently,[5] and from observational astronomy to the design and construction of large telescopes.