Karen L. Masters

Contact
Information 		Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02143, USA. 		Phone: +1 (617) 495-7042
Fax: +1 (617) xxx-xxxx
Email: kmasters@cfa.harvard.edu
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~masters
Education

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Ph.D Astronomy, August 2005.
  • Thesis Title: ``Galaxy flows in and around the Local Supercluster''
  • Minor in Physics
  • Advisor: Martha Haynes
M.S. Astronomy, January 2003.

Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
B.A. Physics (1st Class Honours), June 2000

Research
Interests 		Structure and velocity field of the local universe, redshift independent distance indicators (especially Tully-Fisher), optical and radio observations, link between N-body simulations and observations of the universe, mock catalogues.
Research
Experience		 Cornell University: (Supervisors - Martha Haynes and Riccardo Giovanelli
Construction of the SFI++ Sample of Tully-Fisher Distances (2004-)
Construction of Mock Catalogs for the SFI++ Sample (2004-)
Parametric modeling of the velocity field of the Local Supercluster (2003-)
HI Drift Surveys at Arecibo and the GBT (simulations of expected results, and observations) (2003-)
[OIII] rotation curves for intermediate redshift galaxies (2003-)
The Impact of Distance Uncertainties on Local Luminosity and Mass Functions (A study of the impact of ignoring peculiar velocities in deriving distances for catalogs) (Summer 2003)
Internal Extinction in Spirial Galaxies in the NIR from 2MASS data (Summers 2001-2002)
Birmingham University, UK: (Supervisor - Duncan Forbes)
Predicting the Merger of the Local Group using Globular Cluster Populations (Summer 1999)
Observing
Experience

Optical Spectroscopy: 22 nights (including 5 as lead observer) with Double Spectrograph on Hale 5m, Palomar Observatory.
Optical Imaging: 6 nights on WIYN 0.9m with MOSAIC, 1 night on WIYN 3.5m with Mini-Mo, KPNO.
Radio: Arecibo and GBT drift scan observations at L-band (21cm).

Honours and
Awards
  • AAS Young Astronomer Travel Grant to attend IAU 2003 in Sydney, Australia, June 2003.
  • Eleanor Norton York Prize in Astronomy for Graduate Students, Cornell Astronomy Dept. 2002
  • Cornell Graduate Student Conference Travel Grants, 2002, 2003.
  • Cornell University Graduate Student Fellow (2000-2001).
  • Scott Prize for best performance in B.A. examinations, Oxford University, 2000.
  • Wadham College Scholar, Oxford University, 1998-2000
  • Distinction in Preliminary Physics Examinations, Oxford University, 1998.
Summer Schools
  • National Virtual Observatory Summer School, Aspen, Colorado, September 2004.
  • Eighth Synthesis Imaging Summer School at the VLA, Socorro, New Mexico, June 2002
  • NAIC-NRAO Summer School on Single Dish Radio Astronomy, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, June 2001
Teaching
Experience

Teaching Assistant Astro 102: January-May 2003
Introductory Planetary Astronomy for non-majors. Taught sections, assigned and graded homework.

Teaching Assistant Writing in the Majors: August 2001-December 2002
Writing in the Majors course for non-majors (Astro 201/202), and Sophomores entering the Astronomy major (Astro 233). My duties included development of assignments, grading of written papers and office hours.

Public Outreach Activities

Curious about Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer (2000-present)
(http://curious.astro.cornell.edu). Question answering and website development and maintenance.

Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Math and Engineering (Springs 2002-2005)
Annual conference for 7-9 grade girls. Developed and ran workshop on Galaxies 2002, 2003. Conference Co-Chair with overall responsibility for conference 2004, 2005.

Graduate Student Schools Outreach Program Spring 2004
Developed and ran six session mini-course for Ms. Snow's 2nd Grade class at R.C. Buckely Elementary School, Lansing, NY.

Focus For Teens Astronomy Program. Summers 2001-2004.
Developed and ran various workshops in Astronomy for this 4H affiliated program ran at Cornell.

Public Stargazing Nights, Cornell Adult University Summers 2002-2004.
Planned and ran public stargazing nights at the historic 12 inch refractor on the Cornell Campus.

Graduate Student Chaperone for CONTOUR Comet Challenge. Summer 2002.
Preliminary judging for this national competition, accompanied winners to launch of CONTOUR.

Refereed
Publications

The Impact of Distance Uncertainties on Local Luminosity and Mass Functions, K.L. Masters, M.P. Haynes and R. Giovanelli, 2004, ApJ 607, L115.

Internal Extinction in Spiral Galaxies in the Near-Infrared, K.L. Masters, R. Giovanelli, and M.P. Haynes, 2003, AJ 126, 158

The elliptical galaxy formerly known as the Local Group: merging the globular cluster systems, D.A. Forbes, K.L. Masters, D. Minniti, and P. Barmby, 2000, A&A 358, 471

Conference
Presentations

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: 1. I. Simulations and Strategies for Survey Design., R. Giovanelli and 10 other authors including K.L Masters, Poster AAS Atlanta 2004.

Blind Extragalactic HI Surveys with the Arecibo and Green Bank Telescopes: 2. II. Strategies for Map Construction and Signal Detection., M.P. Haynes, M. P. 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, Sydney, Australia 2003.

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.