NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows

I work with a 3-D numerical radiative transfer code called SLIP to study line polarization in supernova ejecta. SLIP can be used to predict the observational consequences of theoretical supernova explosion models as well as to interpret spectropolarimetric observations in light of those models. My research uses both these methods to investigate the detailed three-dimensional structure of supernova ejecta and thereby gain a better understanding of these cosmic explosions and how they interact with their environments.

I am also active in stellar astrophysics, with particular interests in circumstellar material in binary systems, LBV's, and pre-main sequence stars.

While at Berkeley, I worked closely with UC Berkeley's Society for Women in the Physical Sciences (SWPS) to help create a positive and diverse support network for women in physics and astronomy, both at Berkeley and in the wider community. SWPS provides an ongoing student mentoring program and frequent opportunities for interaction between visiting female scientists and the graduate and undergraduate women at Berkeley. Each year SWPS organizes Launch Day, an orientation for new physics and astronomy majors, and presents physics and astronomy career workshops at the Expanding Your Horizons conference for middle-school girls. I continue to maintain a webpage of resources for women in astronomy.

The sketch above was drawn in 1997 by Joe, a first grader at Lapham School in Madison, WI, after I gave a presentation in his classroom that involved making a "comet" out of dry ice.