Astronomy

Research interests/experience The 2MASS Redshift Survey The velocity field of galaxies in the Local Supercluster. The SFI++ Tully-Fisher sample: TF Template paper HI Drift Surveys Internal extinction of spiral galaxies in the NIR. Tracing the merger histories of galaxies with globular cluster populations. (Summer Student Project, Birmingham University, UK, 1999.) Download my thesis: pdf (warning: large file!). CV: html, pdf. Publications: ADS astro-ph		This image of the central 1 Mpc (about 3 million light years) of the Virgo cluster was taken as part of the Digitised Sky Survey at the Palomar Observatory. It's about 4 degrees across on the sky, or 16 times the size of the full Moon. The Virgo Cluster is the nearest large cluster of galaxies and is pulling our Local Group of galaxies towards it. As part of my thesis project I am studying this infall onto Virgo.
Conference Presentations: Galaxy Flows in and around the Local Supercluster, K.L. Masters, Oral presentation UK National Astronomy Meeting, Birmingham, UK Apr 2005. Galaxy Flows in and around the Local Supercluster, K.L. Masters, Dissertation Talk AAS San Diego, 2005. A Digital Archive of Extragalactic HI Spectra and Access to the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey, M.P. Haynes, R. Giovanelli, B. Kent, C.M. Springob, K.L. Masters, A. Saintonge, K. Spekkens, S. Stierwalt, Oral presentation AAS San Diego, Jan 2005. Cosmology in the Very Local Universe - Why Flow Models Matter., K.L. Masters, Poster presentation Texas Symposium, Stanford, Dec 2004. Conference Procceedings Paper Simulations of the Effect of Peculiar Velocities on HI Mass Functions, K.L. Masters, M.P. Haynes, and R. Giovanelli, Oral presentation AAS Atlanta, 2004. Blind Extragalactic HI Surveys with the Arecibo and Green Bank Telescopes: Simulations and Strategies for Survey Design., R. Giovanelli and 10 other authors including K.L Masters, Poster AAS Atlanta 2004. Strategies for Map Construction and Signal Detection., M.P. Haynes and 10 other authors including K.L. Masters, Poster AAS Atlanta 2004. The Structure and Velocity Field of the Local Supercluster, K.L. Masters & M.P. Haynes, Poster presentation, IAU Symposium 216: Maps of the Cosmos, Sydney, Australia 2003. (Part of the 25th General Assembly of the IAU) Online version of poster Internal Extinction in Spiral Galaxies in the Near-Infrared, K.L. Masters, R. Giovanelli, and M.P. Haynes, Poster presentation UK National Astronomy Meeting, Dublin 2003.
I took this picture of dawn mist in the Arecibo primary reflector when I was in Puerto Rico for the NAIC/NRAO Summer School on Single Dish Radio Astronomy. One of the neat things about radio astronomy is that you can take data while the dish looks like this! This is not true for optical telescopes!	Observing Experience Hale 200" Telescope, Palomar Observatory Spectral observation of Dwarf Galaxies. [OIII] rotation curves for intermediate redshift galaxies. WIYN 0.9m/3.5m, Kitt Peak National Observatory Arecibo Radio Telescope Green Bank Radio Telescope

Education

• Graduate Student in Astronomy, Cornell University, USA, 2000-2005
• Advisor: Martha Haynes, Cornell Extragalactic Group.
• Ph.D. in Astronomy, August 2005. Thesis title: Galaxy Flows in and Around the Local Supercluster
• M.Sc. in Astronomy, January 2004.
• Classes taken at Cornell.
• NVO Summer School, Sept 2004
• Eighth Synthesis Imaging Summer School, 18-25 June 2002
• NAIC-NRAO Summer School on Single Dish Radio Astronomy, Summer 2001
• B.A. in Physics, Oxford University, UK, 1997-2000. Scott Prize for the best performance in the BA examinations in 2000. If you're interested in what I had to do for this see here. It's quite different to a BA in the US.
• A-levels in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths. S-levels in Maths and Physics, King Edward IVth College, Nuneation, UK, 1995-1997.

Teaching experience and training

• Teaching assistant for Astro 102, 'Our Solar System', Cornell, Spring 2003. This is a large lecture course focusing on the Solar System.
• Teaching assistant for Astro 233, 'Topics in Astronomy and Astrophysics.', Cornell, Fall 2002. This is a Sophmore Writing Seminar in the John S Knight Writing for the Disciplines program at Cornell. It explored the theme "From Planets to Galaxies: The Origin of Cosmic Structure."
• Teaching assisant for Astro 202, 'Our Home in the Solar System.', Cornell, Spring 2002. This is an astronomy course for non-majors focusing on presenting scientific ideas through writing. We covered four broad topics: the impact threat, global warming, Mars and extrasolar planets. This course is part of the John S Knight Writing for the Disciplines program at Cornell.
• One-day teaching workshop, Cornell, Spring 2002
• Writing 701 seminar course for TAs in the Writing in the Majors program, Autumn 2001. Six week 2 credit class: "This course provides an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of specific issues that arise in Writing in the Majors courses. It also explores more general dimensions of writing and teaching that are rarely objects of instruction in graduate programs or topics of organized discussion within departments." (From Writing 701 description.)
• Teaching assistant for Astro 201, 'Our Home in the Universe.', Cornell, Autumn 2001. This is an Astronomy course designed for non-majors, where the focus is on writing about Astronomy. It's part of the John S. Knight Writing in the Disciplines program. The focus was on general Astronomy, covering many modern issues. It was divided into four basic sections; How our view of the heavens has changed from ancient times, how astronomers view the heavens, the life and deaths of stars and the origin, evolution and fate of the universe.

Email: kmasters 'at' cfa.harvard.edu Last modified: Mon Sept 12th 2005