Karen Masters (born 1979) is an Astrophysicist and Full Professor of Astrophysics in Haverford College,[1] Pennsylvania exploring galaxy formation. She is also the project scientist for the citizen science project Galaxy Zoo, and uses the classifications to study the evolution of galaxies.
Karen Masters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 44–45) |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Organization | Haverford College |
| Known for | Astrophysics, formation and evolution, Galaxy Zoo |
Education
editMasters was born in Birmingham and attended King Edward VI College, Nuneaton.[2] She completed a BSc in Physics at the University of Oxford in 2000.[3] She received a PhD in Astronomy from Cornell University in 2005, entitled "Galaxy flows in and around the Local Supercluster", under the supervision of Martha Haynes and Riccardo Giovanelli.[4]
Research
editIn 2005 Masters moved to Harvard University to work as a postdoctoral researcher with John Huchra on a project to make the most complete map of the local Universe.[5] Masters "unveiled the most complete 3-D map of the local universe (out to a distance of 380 million light-years) ever created"[6] in 2011 at the 218th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The map was created using data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey.
She moved to the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth in October 2008.[2] She was appointed the Gruber Foundation IAU Fellow in 2008.[7] In 2010 Masters was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, for a project entitled "Do bars kill spiral galaxies?".[8] She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2014 and Associate Professor in 2015.[9] She has been working on extragalactic astronomy, and in 2018 was appointed as Associate Professor at Haverford College in Pennsylvania.[10]
Masters is the Project Spokesperson for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.[11]
Public engagement
editMasters coordinates the research scientists for Galaxy Zoo, a crowd-sourced galaxy classification project.[3] She has appeared on the BBC Sky At Night.[12]
She coordinated the She's An Astronomer page for Galaxy Zoo, collating the stories of women from astronomy.[13] In 2014 Masters won the Women of the Future Award for Science.[14][15] That year she was listed as one of the BBC's top 100 women.[16]
References
edit- ^ "FacultyKaren Masters". Haverford College. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b "She's an Astronomer: Karen Masters". Galaxy Zoo. 2 November 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Wadham College Alumni: Karen Masters". University of Oxford. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ Masters, Karen Louise (2005). "Galaxy flows in and around the Local Supercluster". Ph.D. Thesis. Bibcode:2005PhDT.........2M.
- ^ "Karen Masters". The Conversation. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Astronomers unveil the most complete 3-D map of the local universe". Smithsonian Insider. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "2008 Gruber Cosmology Prize Press Release | The Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Karen Masters - Portsmouth Research Portal". researchportal.port.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Karen Masters". www.icg.port.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Haverford Welcomes Six New Faculty Members". Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "SDSS Key Personnel". www.sdss.org. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ^ "Secrets of the Whirlpool Galaxy, The Sky at Night - BBC Four". BBC. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "She's An Astronomer | Galaxy Zoo". blog.galaxyzoo.org. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ Massey, Robert. "Dr Karen Masters wins Women of the Future award". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "The Future is Now: Karen Masters Wins UK Award | Science Blog from the SDSS". blog.sdss.org. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ^ "Who are the 100 Women 2014?". BBC News. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
External links
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