Employment Sherman Fairchild Prize Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics 2008 -- present California Insitute of Technology

Contact Information email: abrooks at tapir.caltech.edu office phone: (626) 395-2765 Fax: (626) 796-5675 Mail: Theoretical Astrophysics California Institute of Technology MC 350-17 Pasadena, CA 91125

Education University of Washington Summer 2008 Ph.D. in Astronomy Thesis Title: "The Role of Gas in the Evolution of Disk Galaxies" Thesis Advisor: Fabio Governato University of Washington Sept 2004 M.S. in Astronomy Macalester College Dec 2000 B.A. in Physics with Astronomy emphasis, magna cum laude
Honors Space Grant Fellow, Spring 2008 Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, 2005 Space Grant Fellow, 2002-2003

Diversity & Outreach
Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) Coordinated outreach and information sessions on the Astronomy Department's Pre-MAP program.	Fall 2005 -- Spring 2006
The Ronald E. McNair & The Early Identification Programs U. Washington Office of Minority Affairs Graduate Advisor. Mentored underrepresented undergraduates in their research and graduate school preparation process. Designed and led workshops about the graduate application process and tools for successful research. Coordinated annual undergraduate research symposium.	Fall 2003 -- Spring 2005
SMARTGirls Expand Your Horizons, Seattle Annual workshop at Seattle University, addressed science and diversity with middle school girls.	May 2003-2005

Research Experience
Graduate Student Researcher, U. Washington Supervisors: Fabio Governato & Tom Quinn Analyzed N-body simulations of disk galaxies to discover 1) the origin of the stellar mass - metallicity relation, 2) the gas accretion history and angular momentum buildup of disks, and 3) the high z progenitors of MW-like galaxies.	2005 -- 2008
Graduate Research Assistant, U. Washington Supervisor: George Wallerstein Tested the Ca II triplet as a metallicity indicator in M supergiants.	2005
Research Associate, Columbia U. Supervisor: David Helfand Searched for supernova remnants in the XMM Galactic Plane Survey.	2001-2002
Research Associate, Macalester College Supervisor: Kim Venn Measured spectroscopic boron abundances in B-stars to 1) test rotational depletion scenarios during main-sequence evolution and 2) test light element production via cosmic ray spallation.	1999-2001
Arecibo Observatory Summer REU Student Supervisor: Snezana Stanimirovic Mapped the northern tip of the Magellanic Stream in HI as a test of Galactic halo confinement scenarios.	Summer 2000
Space Telescope Science Institute Summer Student Supervisor: Brian Espey Determined redshifts and fit absorption templates to Lyman alpha and CIV in AGN spectra.	Summer 1999

Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, U. Washington Led discussion section for Introductory Astronomy.	Fall 2002, 2006, 2007
Teaching Assistant, U. Washington Led discussion section for introductory course on The Planets.	Winter,Spring 2003

Observing Experience
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (CTIO, Apache Point Observatory) UV Spectroscopy (HST-STIS) Optical Spectroscopy (CTIO, Apache Point Observatory) HI Radio Observations (Arecibo Radio Observatory)

Invited Talks
Space Telescope Science Institute, Colloquium Series UC Berkeley, Theoretical Astrophysics Center, Seminar Series	Nov 2009
Frank N. Bash Symposium (UT Austin), Invited Review Talk	Oct 2009
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2009
Los Alamos National Lab, Astrophysics Colloquium JPL, Astrophysics Seminar Series	April 2009
Carnegie Observatories, Lunch Talk Series UC Irvine, Astrophysics Seminar Series	March 2009
IPAC (Caltech), Lunch Seminar UC Santa Cruz, invited lunch talk	Feb 2009
Cambridge University, Insitute of Astronomy Seminar Series University of Zurich, Astronomy Dept Max Plank Institute for Astrophysics, Garching	Sept 2008
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2008
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory & Computation, Seminar Series	Dec 2007
Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics, Seminar Series University of British Columbia, Astronomy Colloquium Series	Sept 2007
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2007
UC Santa Cruz, invited lunch talk UC Berkeley, Radio Astronomy Lab Seminar	May 2007

Last modified: 2-August-2009 17:30 PST