Awards:
Teaching Effectiveness Award, 2005
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, 2005
Clare Boothe Luce Fellow, 2003
Majors: Physics and Astronomy
Cumulative GPA: 3.95
GPA in Majors: 3.97 Physics / 4.0 Astronomy
Awards and Prizes:
Sigma Xi, 2002
Phi Beta Kappa, 2001
Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, 2000
Sigma Pi Sigma (Physics honor society), 2001
Sarah Williston Scholar (top 15% of class), 2001
Society of Physics Students Leadership Award, 2001
Rogers D. Rusk Prize, 2002 (for outstanding senior physics major
at Mount Holyoke College)
Mary Dailey Irvine Prize, 2002 (for outstanding thesis in Five
College Astronomy Department)
Phi Beta Kappa Prize, 2002 (for outstanding Mount Holyoke College
thesis)
Using europium (Z=63) as an r-process marker, I am determining the abundance of the r-process in nearly one thousand nearby F8–K0 stars, to investigate the history of heavy element Galactic nucleosynthesis. To that end, I am also measuring europium in cluster stars of known ages, to see how that abundance changes as a function of time in the Galaxy. I anticipate completing my dissertation in May 2009.
Using a combination of adaptive optics and radial velocity measurements, I am determining the binary occurrence rate for intermediate-mass stars.
As a primary observer for the Berkeley contingent of the radial velocity planet search, I have logged 84 nights on the Keck telescope since March 2006. I have also been the primary operator of the data reduction pipeline.
Worked with Don Backer on the prototype stage of a dipole array to detect epoch of reionization radiation.
Investigated the dynamics of a dense, narrow ring around Saturn by means of an n-body symplectic integrator code. Thesis won first prize in the annual Mount Holyoke Phi Beta Kappa prize competition and the Five-College Mary Dailey Irvine Prize, as well as the high honor designation by the astronomy department. The work was a continuation of a summer internship at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, advised by Dr. Joseph M. Hahn.
Poster Title: “r-Process Elements in the Milky Way.”
Poster Title: “r-Process Elements in the Galaxy.”
Poster Title: “The Heaviest Elements: r-Process Abundances in the Galaxy.”
Invited Speaker at Society of Physics Students session. Presented research results about dust in the solar corona, work done during an SPS-sponsored summer internship at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Poster at 2002 LPSC in Houston, Texas, about undergraduate thesis work on the formation of Saturn’s rings.
Keck 1 / HIRES: 84 nights, March 2006–December 2008
Shane 3-m / Hamilton Spectrograph: 14 nights, October 2006–November 2008
Coudé Auxiliary Telescope / Hamilton Spectrograph: 21 nights, June 2006–November 2008
Shane 3-m / NGS-AO: 5 nights, March & October 2007
Green Bank: Six days setting up prototype dipole array, August 2004
MDM 1.3-m Kitt Peak: 3 photometry nights, October 2000
Palomar 200-inch: 2 photometry nights, August 2000
Astronomy 160: Junior-level stars. Led homework help sessions, discussion section, and lectured in the professor’s absence.
Astronomy 10: Head GSI for the 840-student introduction to astronomy for nonmajors. In charge of a team of 11 GSIs and 8 homework graders, I coordinated star parties and homework help sessions, administered and graded midterm and final exams, confronted student cheating, and lectured to hundreds in the professor’s absence. For my work that semester I won the Outstanding GSI and Teaching Effectiveness awards.
Astronomy 7B: As a GSI for the introductory class for physical science majors, I led a weekly discussion section, homework help session, and helped create and grade exams. For the discussion section, my co-GSI and I created thought-provoking worksheets that built on the students’ lecture knowledge and prepared them for the homework. At the end of the semester, I gave a full lecture of my own design, on absorption features of the Epoch of Reionization in quasar spectra.
Astronomy 10: In my first time teaching this course I led two discussion sections, designing activities and fielding student questions.
For one year, taught Introductory Physics, Astronomy, and Algebra 1 courses at Miss Porter’s girls’ school in Farmington, Connecticut. Also led a modern physics independent study.
Appointed by astronomy department to grade homework and provide help sessions for Astronomy 223: Planetary Science.
Appointed by astronomy department to teach and supervise students in astronomy labs for Astronomy 101.
Graded homework for a range of physics classes from the introductory to the 300 level.
As a member of the editorial board, chose articles for inclusion in Issue 15. Worked with authors to develop articles on topics as diverse as hummingbird mating practices and research into neglected diseases. Organized fall 2008 BSR seminar on science writing.
Contributed article on argon-argon radiometric dating, highlighting a recent recalibration of the technique by Berkeley geochronologists.
Reviewed Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food for the book review feature.
Final proofreader for style, grammar, consistency, and accuracy.
Read, scored, and gave feedback for science policy white papers for the first judging phase of the UC Berkeley science, technology, and engineering policy (STEP) group's competition.
Gave two public lectures, one a summary nucleosynthesis focused on a gold atom, the other, a multi-wavelength view of the Galactic center.
Led activity sessions on astronomy in girls' after-school program in Oakland, CA.
Co-led "daytime astronomy" session in annual one-day science program for middle school girls, held at Mills College in Oakland, CA.
Last Update : April 2009
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