Karen Masters
{{short description|Astrophysicist}}
{{about||the golf tournament|KCB Karen Masters}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Karen Masters
| image = Karen_Masters,_astronomer,_December_2017.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}}
| alma_mater = University of Oxford
| organization = Haverford College
| known_for = Astrophysics, formation and evolution, Galaxy Zoo
}}
Karen Masters (born 1979) is an Astrophysicist and Full Professor of Astrophysics in Haverford College,{{Cite web|url=https://www.haverford.edu/users/klmasters|title=FacultyKaren Masters|website=Haverford College|access-date=2024-05-27}} 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.
Education
Masters was born in Birmingham and attended King Edward VI College, Nuneaton.{{Cite news|url=https://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2009/11/02/shes-an-astronomer-karen-masters/|title=She's an Astronomer: Karen Masters|date=2009-11-02|work=Galaxy Zoo|access-date=2018-01-05|language=en-US}} She completed a BSc in Physics at the University of Oxford in 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/people/alumni/m/karen-masters|title=Wadham College Alumni: Karen Masters|website=University of Oxford|access-date=2018-01-05|archive-date=13 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113052213/http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/people/alumni/m/karen-masters|url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Masters|first=Karen Louise|date=2005|title=Galaxy flows in and around the Local Supercluster|bibcode=2005PhDT.........2M|journal=Ph.D. Thesis}}
Research
In 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.{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-masters-91585|title=Karen Masters|website=The Conversation|date=24 April 2013 |language=en|access-date=2018-01-05}} Masters "unveiled the most complete 3-D map of the local universe (out to a distance of 380 million light-years) ever created"{{Cite news|url=http://insider.si.edu/2011/05/astronomers-unveil-the-most-complete-3-d-map-of-the-local-universe/|title=Astronomers unveil the most complete 3-D map of the local universe|date=2011-05-25|work=Smithsonian Insider|access-date=2018-01-05|language=en-US}} 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. She was appointed the Gruber Foundation IAU Fellow in 2008.{{Cite web|url=http://gruber.yale.edu/cosmology/press/2008-gruber-cosmology-prize-press-release|title=2008 Gruber Cosmology Prize Press Release {{!}} The Gruber Foundation|website=gruber.yale.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-01-05}} In 2010 Masters was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, for a project entitled "Do bars kill spiral galaxies?".{{Cite web|url=https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/karen-masters(3620b915-0a34-4e9c-b7f1-d82ea421a3c3).html|title=Karen Masters - Portsmouth Research Portal|website=researchportal.port.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-01-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106064827/https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/karen-masters(3620b915-0a34-4e9c-b7f1-d82ea421a3c3).html|archive-date=2018-01-06|url-status=dead}} She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2014 and Associate Professor in 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.icg.port.ac.uk/author/mastersk/|title=Karen Masters|website=www.icg.port.ac.uk|language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-05|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407163945/http://www.icg.port.ac.uk/author/mastersk/|url-status=dead}} She has been working on extragalactic astronomy, and in 2018 was appointed as Associate Professor at Haverford College in Pennsylvania.{{Cite news|url=https://www.haverford.edu/college-communications/news/haverford-welcomes-six-new-faculty-members|title=Haverford Welcomes Six New Faculty Members|access-date=2018-01-05|language=en}}
Masters is the Project Spokesperson for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sdss.org/collaboration/personnel/|title=SDSS Key Personnel|last=|first=|date=|website=www.sdss.org|language=en-US|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-12-08}}
Public engagement
Masters coordinates the research scientists for Galaxy Zoo, a crowd-sourced galaxy classification project. She has appeared on the BBC Sky At Night.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07g9z87|title=Secrets of the Whirlpool Galaxy, The Sky at Night - BBC Four|website=BBC|access-date=2018-01-05}}
She coordinated the She's An Astronomer page for Galaxy Zoo, collating the stories of women from astronomy.{{Cite web|url=https://blog.galaxyzoo.org/category/shes-an-astronomer-3/|title=She's An Astronomer {{!}} Galaxy Zoo|website=blog.galaxyzoo.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-05}} In 2014 Masters won the Women of the Future Award for Science.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/2527-dr-karen-masters-wins-women-of-the-future-award|title=Dr Karen Masters wins Women of the Future award|last=Massey|first=Robert|website=www.ras.org.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-01-05}}{{Cite web|url=http://blog.sdss.org/2014/10/31/the-future-is-now-karen-masters-wins-uk-award/|title=The Future is Now: Karen Masters Wins UK Award {{!}} Science Blog from the SDSS|website=blog.sdss.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-05}} That year she was listed as one of the BBC's top 100 women.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-29758792|title=Who are the 100 Women 2014?|date=2014-10-26|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-01-05|language=en-GB}}
References
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External links
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Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
Category:American women physicists
Category:American women astrophysicists
Category:American astrophysicists
Category:American women astronomers
Category:21st-century American women scientists
Category:Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship recipients
Category:Haverford College faculty
Category:Cornell University alumni