 From 1982-1986 he was a Carnegie/Las Campanas Fellow at the Mount Wilson & Las Campanas Observatories, now called the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science.After moving to Chile in 1986, Suntzeff working with Mark M. Phillips and Mario Hamuy at CTIO used the newly developed cryogenic CCD cameras to produce the first modern light curve of a Type Ia supernova.The fundamental calibration for distances to Type Ia supernovae was invented by the Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey, founded by Mario Hamuy, Jose Maza, Mark M. Phillips, and Suntzeff.