Finley's current research involves the design and instrumentation of novel scientific instruments for space vehicles. He was recently a post-doctoral research associate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

 Finley earned his PhD (2021) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa's Holo Reality Lab. He also received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Iowa in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He has given several invited talks on his research, his work has been featured on the cover of Applied Optics, and he was awarded a Best Student Paper Award at Electronic Imaging 2020 (3DMP). Finley's research interests include applied signal processing, digital image processing, and system optimization.