Dr. Laura Watkins
Curriculum Vitae
Positions
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore MD, USA
- 09/2013 - present
- Postdoc, working with Roeland van der Marel
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany
- 10/2010 - 09/2013
- Postdoc in the Dynamics group, working with Glenn van de Ven
Education
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
- 10/2006 - 09/2010
- PhD in Astronomy
- Thesis: Tracer Populations in the Local Group
- Supervisors: Wyn Evans and Vasily Belokurov
- Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge
- 10/2002 - 06/2006
- MSc First Class Honours
- Project Title: Weak lensing in galaxy clusters.
- Supervisor: Lindsay King
- MA First Class Honours
- Natural Sciences with Computer Science, specialising in Astrophysics.
Honours and Awards
- 2015: PI HST Theory proposal AR-14322
- 2015: CoI HST proposal GO-14235 (PI Sohn)
- 2015: CoI HST proposal GO-14155 (PI Kalirai)
- 2015: CoI VLT/MUSE proposal 095.B-0585A (PI Lützgendorf)
- 2010: PI INT/WFC proposal I/2010B/09
- 2009: CoI VLT/FORS2 proposal 083.B-0269A (PI Fellhauer)
- 2008: CoI VLT/FORS2 proposal 082.B-0684A (PI Fellhauer)
- 2006-2010: PPARC/STFC studentship
- 2006-2010: Gonville and Caius Rhonda Scholarship
- 2006: Gonville and Caius Physics Prize
- 2005: Gonville and Caius Senior Scholarship
- 2004: Gonville and Caius Senior Scholarship
- 2003: Gonville and Caius Junior Scholarship
Teaching and Mentoring
- Primary Mentor
- 2015: Austin Baldwin (STScI REU program)
- Co-mentor
- 2011-2015: Alex Büdenbender (MPIA)
- Small-group Teaching
- One-to-one and one-to-two small group teaching.
- 2008-2009 Part 1A Natural Sciences Mathematics for Gonville and Caius College.
- 2007-2008 Part 1A Natural Sciences Mathematics for Gonville and Caius College.
- 2006-2007 Part 1A Natural Sciences Mathematics for Gonville and Caius College.
Talks & Conferences
- 2016/03 conference: Mayacamas Astrophysics 2016; Calistoga, CA, USA (invited talk)
- 2016/03 colloquium; Harvard CfA, Cambridge, MA, USA (video)
- 2016/02 meeting: STScI Postdoc Jamboree, Baltimore, MD, USA
- 2016/01 coffee talk: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA
- 2015/10 colloquium; Texas A&M Mitchell Institute; College Station, TX, USA
- 2015/09 workshop; Gaia Challenge III; ICCUB, Barcelona, Spain (talk)
- 2015/07 seminar; Surrey Astrophysics; Guildford, UK
- 2015/06 conference: Local Group Astrostatistics; Ann Arbor, MI, USA (talk)
- 2015/01 conference: Black holes in dense stellar systems; Aspen, CO, USA (talk)
- 2014/11 seminar; MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2014/10 workshop; Gaia Challenge II; MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany (talk)
- 2014/08 seminar: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA (video)
- 2014/07 seminar: IoA, Cambridge, UK
- 2014/02 coffee talk: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA
- 2014/01 meeting: 223rd Meeting of the AAS; National Harbor, MD, USA (talk)
- 2013/12 seminar; MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2013/08 workshop; Gaia Challenge; Guildford, Surrey, UK (talk)
- 2013/08 colloquium; Königstuhl colloquium, MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2013/08 meeting: Dynamical modelling of the Milky Way (Not Ready for Gaia); Heidelberg, Germany (talk)
- 2013/06 conference: Small Stellar Systems; Prato, Italy (talk)
- 2013/06 seminar: SFB881 collaboration, ARI, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2013/02 colloquium; Strasbourg Observatory, Strasbourg, France
- 2013/01 meeting: 221st Meeting of the AAS; Long Beach, CA, USA (poster)
- 2012/11 meeting: MPIA GC retreat; Lobbach, Germany (talk)
- 2012/11 seminar; MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2012/04 workshop: Dynamics meets kinematic tracers; Ringberg Castle, Germany (invited talk)
- 2012/02 conference: First light and faintest dwarfs; KITP, Santa Barbara, CA, USA (poster)
- 2011/10 meeting: MPIA GC retreat; Neuwied, Germany (talk)
- 2011/09 meeting: Astronomische Gesellschaft; Heidelberg, Germany
- 2011/07 seminar; IAC, Tenerife, Spain
- 2011/04 conference: Assembling the puzzle of the Milky Way; Le Grand-Bornand, France (talk)
- 2010/11 seminar; MPIA, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2009/09 conference: Milky Way: Now and in the Gaia Era; Heidelberg, Germany (poster)
- 2008/03 conference: Galactic structure and the structure of galaxies; Ensenada, Mexico
- 2007/08 school: The Milky Way galaxy: dynamics - evolution - matter cycle; Heidelberg, Germany
- 2007/05 conference: The Milky Way halo - stars and gas; Bonn, Germany (poster)
Relevant skills, experience and service
- Professional Memberships
- Member of the International Astronomical Union
- Astronomical Community Service
- Referee for MNRAS, A&A
- 2014- Panel support staff for HST Time Allocation Committee (Cycles 22 & 23)
- Conference Organisation
- 2016 STScI Postdoc Jamboree, Baltimore, MD USA
- 2012 SOC for MPIA GC Retreat, Lobbach, Germany
- 2012 LOC for Dynamics meets kinematics tracers workshop, Ringberg, Germany
- Departmental Service
- 2015- STScI postdoc representative
- 2015- Co-organiser for STScI Colloquium series
- 2014-2015 Co-organiser for STScI CoolSci/HotSci series
- 2012-2013 Website manager of the MPIA Dynamics group
- 2012-2013 Organiser for MPIA Dynamics group meetings
- 2006-2010 Website manager of the IoA Stellar Populations group
- 2007-2009 Co-organiser for the IoA Stellar Populations group meetings
- 2006-2007 Co-organiser for the IoA Student Seminar series
- Courses and Workshops
- 2016 JHU LGBTQ SafeZone training
- 2012 Writing in the Sciences (Stanford University - Coursera online course)
- 2007 Supervising and Small Group Teaching (University of Cambridge)
- Programming/scripting languages
- python, IDL, C, php, html, css, basic Fortran, basic mysql
- Languages
- Native English speaker, basic conversational German, basic conversational Spanish
Observing Experience
- 2010/09 INT/WFC - 5 nights, photometry of BHBs near the Pisces Overdensity
- 2009/09 INT/WFC - 7 nights, photometry of satellite candidates identified in SDSS
- 2008-2009 ESO/VLT - Phase II preparation for FORS2 (service mode) for two runs, one with single-slit spectroscopy and one with multi-slit spectroscopy.
References
- Details available upon request.