Profile
Karen Masters
Sad I was the first to go. Will still answer some more questions if I have time.
My CV
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Education:
1993-1995 The Coleshill School, Coleshill (11-16);1995-1997 King Edward Sixth Form College, Nuneaton (A-levels in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths)
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Qualifications:
1997-2000: Oxford University (Wadham College), BA in Physics; 2000-2005: Cornell University (USA), MA and PhD in Astronomy
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Work History:
I was a researcher at Harvard University from 2005-2008. I’ve worked at Portsmouth University since 2008. When I was 19 I spent a summer working at the Davis Planetarium at the Maryland Science Center (in the USA). As an A-level student I worked part-time in a pub.
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Current Job:
Astronomer (research scientist).
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Read more
Galaxy Zoo (link) is an internet based project where anyone can contribute to astronomy. If you log onto the site you will be asked to help astronomers classify galaxies by how they look.
In my research I use the information which has been collected by Galaxy Zoo over the last 4 years along with other information about galaxies (like how many stars they have, what colours those stars are etc) to try to learn about how different galaxies in our universe might have formed and how they transform over time.
Last year I made the below video for National Science and Engineering Week where I talk about why I like to study galaxies.
(done in collaboration with the University of Portsmouth’s Creative Technologies Department, this was shown on BBC Big Screens across the country).
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My Typical Day:
After dropping my children off at school and nursery I usually work at a computer, writing (papers, or blogs or other articles), making presentations, or working on data analysis.
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Read more
Here’s me at my desk at work
One of the best things about my job I think is the variety of tasks. For example today after I write this I’m then going finish getting ready for a school visit where I’ll give two talks. One about the scale of the Universe, and the other about why the world won’t end later this year.
Another task on my to do list today it to make a different plot looking at correlations of bars from Galaxy Zoo with the amount of star formation fuel in a galaxy. I was talking about what I see with another scientist recently, and he suggested a different way of looking at the data might help. So later on I’ll try that.
A beautiful barred spiral imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. I want to understand what this bar (the line across the centre) might be doing to the galaxy.
(read more about this image in a Galaxy Zoo blog post I wrote about it).
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I will use it to help buy equipment to show people (and especially children) the universe.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
enthusiastic,busy,astro-geek
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not really. As a girl interested in math/science I just kind of kept my head down and got on with it most of the time. At school I really enjoyed most subjects.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Well I decided to let my copy of iTunes tell me this using the “most played song”. Unfortunately (and perhaps not surprisingly) it’s my kids favourite not mine – Snuggle Puppy, by the Philadelphia Chickens! ;) The most played belonging to me not the kids is Dido, Life for Rent.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I would like to live to see my kids grow up into happy adults. I want to feel like I’m helping to make the world a better place. I would like to be able to be able to stop worrying if I will have a long term career in science.
Tell us a joke.
Well the Zooites have a whole lot of Galaxy Zoo based jokes. My favourite (perhaps not exactly a joke) is “Ellipticals are red, spirals are blue, at least so we thought until Galaxy Zoo”.
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