I am a professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department at BGSU with responsibilities in Research, Teaching, and Service.
Research: I am an observational astronomer and study the brightness and temperature changes (light curves) of variable stars, in order to understand more clearly what causes the pulsation, and to use these stars as better “standard candles and crayons” (measuring tools to measure interstellar distances and dust absorption). I also obtain spectra of RR Lyrae variable stars to measure their abundance of heavier elements and motion through space, with the goal of understanding more clearly how these old stars formed during the formation of our Milky Way galaxy and its globular star clusters. You can get a listing of all my articles at the Publications link above.
Teaching: I teach a range of undergraduate Astronomy courses including ASTR 2010 Modern Astronomy, where we connect with my beloved variable stars and globular clusters. I also teach PHYS 1010, a 1 semester, low-math course on “basic physics” primarily taken by students in Communications Disorders and those preparing to teach middle-school science, to learn more about motion, forces, energy, and waves including sound and light. In ASTR 1010 Experimental Astronomy, a lab-based BGP course I designed, we focus on “how do we know that” regarding exoplanets. In ASTR 3090 Observational Astronomy, students learn how to observe the sky with their unaided eye, with a small manual telescope, and with our automated 20-inch telescope. Finally, I mentor MS Physics graduate students in thesis projects on astronomy, and undergraduates in a variety of Independent Study projects — see the Student Showcase link above.
Service: I have been Chair of the Physics & Astronomy Department since summer 2019. I enjoy tinkering with telescopes and doing public outreach at the BGSU Observatory and Planetarium.
Credentials & History: I earned a B.A. in Astronomy from Wesleyan University in 1986 after doing an observational thesis on H-alpha emission from the chromospheres of K- and M-type red dwarf stars with Dr. Bill Herbst. I earned a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Yale University in 1993 with a dissertation studying the space motions and abundances of ~300 RR Lyrae variables near the Sun with Dr. Robert Zinn. I then did a 3-year postdoctoral research stint at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. My research at CTIO focused on three observational projects to study the chemical abundances and kinematics of RR Lyrae stars in three distinct regions of our Milky Way galaxy, in an effort to better understand how our Galaxy formed. I also studied the newly-discovered Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy, which in 1994 was found lurking behind the Bulge of our Galaxy, and which has replaced the Large Magellanic Cloud as the “closest known galaxy to our own”. After CTIO, I headed back north and did a year as a postdoc at the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). Drs. Bill Harris and Doug Welch supported my study of old stellar populations in the Galaxy. In addition to starting a large project with Doug to survey the variable star populations of metal-rich globular clusters in the Milky Way, I completed a paper with Drs. Bob Hanson (UCO/Lick) and Suzanne Hawley (MSU) on the luminosity calibration of RR Lyrae stars using the method of statistical parallaxes. Bill and grad student Pat Durrell were co-investigators on a project to measure the structural and color properties of the nucleated dwarf elliptical NGC 5106 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Afterwards, I received a Hubble Fellowship, which I took to the Department of Astronomy at the University of Michigan (faculty contact, Dr. Mario Mateo, 1996 to 1998), and continued the projects I had begun at CTIO and McMaster, with the help of undergraduates Laura Ritter and Ben Bowes. Laura and Ben did extensive photometry of the variable stars in NGC 6441 and NGC 6316, respectively. Ben stayed on for a summer and lent a hand on projects including RR Lyrae stars in M54, in and the Galactic halo. With Dr. Ata Sarajedini, I measured the age of the globular cluster M54 in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. I also published photometry of 102 RR Lyrae stars in the inner halo of the Galaxy. In 1998, I transferred my Hubble Fellowship to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Bowling Green State University (faculty contact, Dr. John Laird) for a final year as a postdoc, and then began teaching as an Assistant Professor in 1999. My research activities have focused on involving students, both BS and MS, with observational studies of variable stars and globular clusters and the subsequent data analysis and interpretation; my service activities have involved maintaining the BGSU Observatory for research and public viewing. Thus, the Research, Teaching, and Service components of my job are overlapping and closely connected.
