Robyn Sanderson Email & Phone Number

Pasadena, Ca

Three-year fellowship awarded by NSF for my proposal titled "Weighing and measuring the Milky Way and other galaxies". For this fellowship I am developing new techniques that use stellar orbits to constrain the mass distributions of galaxies, with an emphasis on preparing for the data from the Gaia astrometric satellite launched by ESA in December 2013. For more information please see the NSF award information at the link below.Twenty percent of my fellowship time is devoted to outreach and education through two programs dedicated to retaining more members of underrepresented groups in the natural sciences: the Columbia Bridge to PhD Program in the Natural Sciences and Cal-bridge.

Greater New York City Area

Three-year fellowship awarded by NSF for my proposal titled "Weighing and measuring the Milky Way and other galaxies".

Greater New York City Area

The Columbia Bridge to PhD Program targets students from populations that are underrepresented in the natural sciences who wish to pursue graduate study in these fields. Scholars in the program work two years as research assistants and take courses relevant to their desired field of study to prepare for application to graduate school. As assistant director, I provide one-on-one mentorship, professional development, and graduate school application assistance to Bridge scholars.

Groningen, Netherlands

Postdoctoral position in the research group of Amina Helmi. Developed several new methods for constraining the distribution of dark matter in local galaxies, primarily using kinematic measurements of stars. Helped evaluate data access methods for the Gaia astrometric survey, which will produce ~10-dimensional data for about 1 billion stars. Helped mentor two graduate students, a master's student, and a bachelor's student, and assisted with teaching the master's level galactic dynamics course.

Cambridge, Ma

Thesis title: "Understanding dark matter halos with tidal caustics." Advisor: E. Bertschinger. Committee: A. Guth, P. Schechter. Developed a new formalism for analyzing mergers of galaxies at high mass ratio and low impact parameter. Showed that the high degree of symmetry in such cases allows the local gravitational field of the larger galaxy, and the initial phase-space density of the smaller one, to be jointly constrained from images of the resulting debris alone without the need for N-body simulations. This technique crucially extends the study of minor mergers beyond the Local Group and provides a counterpoint to sophisticated multi-parameter models of individual merging systems.

Cambridge, Ma

I served as a TA for four semesters during this time period. Some highlights: • Received the Henry Kendall Teaching Award (fall 2009) for work as a TA in MIT's introductory classical mechanics course (8.01), which is taught in an active-learning format (TEAL) and is required of all incoming freshmen. • Supervised 3 undergraduate TAs for a class of 100 students (see above). • Guest-lectured in traditional and interactive formats. • Developed and led review sessions based on student needs. • Wrote solutions to problem sets; graded homework and exams; managed course gradebooks. • Conducted weekly observational labs at a remote site (for an upper-level undergraduate course on observational astronomy). • Reviewed the new edition of a course textbook (on general relativity for undergraduates).For a full list of my teaching experience please download my CV from my website.

Cambridge, Ma

Supervisor: Edmund Bertschinger. Fellowship awarded to incoming graduate students in physics. Developed a theoretical framework to extend the intuitive analogies between general relativity and electromagnetism using the tetrad or vierbein, which describes the orientations of local inertial frames in terms of the coordinate basis vectors. In addition to its pedagogical value, the formalism may be used to compare satellite-based measurements of the gravitomagnetic field performed in different local inertial frames and to analyze atom-interferometric measurements of post-Newtonian gravity.

ASTR100 (all spring and fall semesters except Spring 2002): Introduction to Astronomy. Graded homework and exams; led a weekly 1-hour discussion section.ASTR101 (Summer 2003): Introduction to Astronomy Laboratory. Conducted two 2-hour laboratories weekly for a 6-week course.

PHYS170: Introduction to Mechanics for Physics Majors. Graded homework and exams, developed exam problems, and led weekly problem-solving sessions. Conducted for credit through the Center for Teaching Excellence, concurrent with a course for undergraduate teaching assistants.

Ph.D., Physics (Astrophysics)

Activities and Societies: MIT Kavli Institute Journal Club Committee (2007–2009, founding member), MIT Physics Graduate Student Council.

B.S., Astronomy

Senior thesis research awarded High Honors jointly in Astronomy and Physics departments. Thesis title: "Constraints on rubble-pile models.

B.S., Physics

Awarded High Honors in Physics (see description under B.S., Astronomy)

Diplome D'Études Langue Française, Deuxième Degré, Mention Très Bien, French Language

Diploma certifying proficiency in French, issued by the French Ministry of Education (Centre international d'etudes pédagogiques)..