Contact Info
|
Theoretical Astrophysics, MC 350-17 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91125 Citizenship: United States |
email: [my last name]@gmail.com website: www.astro.cornell.edu/~favata phone: (434)-mfavata [434-632-5675] fax: (626)-796-5675 |
Education
- Ph.D., Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (August 2006); Thesis Adviser: Eanna E. Flanagan
- M.S., Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (May 2004)
- B.S., Physics, with honors, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Research Interests
Gravitational-wave physics, general relativity, theoretical astrophysics, the physics of compact objects, cosmology, nonlinear dynamics, perturbation methods in applied math.
Academic Employment
- August 2009 - present: NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
- August 2009 - present: Visiting Scientist, Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Caltech, Pasadena, CA
- September 2006 - August 2009: Postdoctoral Fellow, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP), Santa Barbara, CA
- August 2000 - August 2006: Graduate student and teaching assistant, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- September 2002 - December 2002: Graduate Fellow, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP), Santa Barbara, CA
- September 1996 - June 2000: Summer research jobs and teaching assistant during undergraduate studies, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Publications
See my publications page.
Teaching Experience
- Phys 120: Physics of California: Waves, Weather, Quakes and Fires; guest lecture on rotating-frame fluid equations, UCSB, Spring 2008
- Astro 102: Our Solar System; head teaching assistant: taught 2-3 recitation sections per week, developed problem sets, held office hours, maintained course webpage, organized TA meetings and responsibilities; Cornell, Spring 2003, 2004, & 2006
- Astro 101: The Nature of the Universe; head teaching assistant: (see above); Cornell, Fall 2003 & 2005
- Astronomy 1: The Evolving Universe; teaching assistant: gave several lectures to a small group of freshman that focused on a mathematical introduction to general relativity; supervised and evaluated student projects; Caltech, Spring 2000
Public Lectures & Outreach
- Lecture on Gravitational wave astronomy to visiting Univ. of Leiden physics students, KITP, (May 2008) [slides, pdf]
- Lecture on Black holes and gravitational waves, Dos Pueblos High School, Santa Barbara, (May 2007) [slides, pdf]
- Lecture on Black holes and gravitational waves, Rio Mesa High School, Oxnard (January 2007)
- Lecture on Black holes and gravitational waves, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, (November 2006)
- Lecture on `Relativity: an introduction to space, time, and gravity, 4-H Focus for Teens Program, Cornell, (June 2002) [slides, pdf] [notes, pdf] (N.b., these high-school level notes were prepared several years ago while I was a graduate student — I have not checked them over recently.)
Conference Talks & Seminars
(Selected talks will be posted in the future; for now you can find links to some talks on my research page.)- 8th Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Columbia Univ. (June 2009)
- 12th Eastern Gravity Meeting, RIT (June 2009)
- CITA Seminar (June 2009)
- UCSB Astrophysics Lunch Seminar (April 2009)
- Physics Department Seminar, Univ. of Mississippi (March 2009)
- 24th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Vancouver (December 2008)
- Theoretical Astrophysics and Relativity seminar, Caltech (December 2008)
- 8th Theoretical Astrophysics in S. California Meeting, UC Irvine (November 2008)
- 7th International LISA Symposium, Barcelona (June 2008)
- 2nd Santa Barbara Astrophysics Meeting, KITP (May 2008)
- 24th Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting, UCSB (March 2008)
- 7th Theoretical Astrophysics in S. California Meeting, UCLA (Nov 2007)
- UCSB Astrophysics Lunch Seminar (October 2007)
- 18th International Conference on Gen. Relativity \& Gravitation, Sydney (July 2007)
- 1st Santa Barbara Astrophysics Meeting, KITP (May 2007)
- 23rd Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting, Caltech (March 2007)
- UCSB Gravity Lunch Seminar (November 2006)
- KITP Program: Physics of Galactic Nuclei, Discussion Talk (July 2006)
- Meeting of the American Physical Society, Dallas (April 2006), Session Chair
- 9th East Coast Gravity Meeting, MIT (March 2006)
- Center for Gravitational Wave Physics Seminar, Penn State (February 2006)
- Meeting of the American Physical Society, Tampa (April 2005)
- 17th International Conference on Gen. Relativity \& Gravitation, Dublin (July 2004)
- Meeting of the American Physical Society, Denver (May 2004)
- 20th Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting, Caltech (March 2004)
- Gravitation: A Decennial Perspective, Penn State (June 2003)
- The Astrophysics of Gravitational Wave Sources, Univ. of Maryland (April 2003)
- Meeting of the American Physical Society, Philadelphia, (April 2003)
- 2nd Theoretical Astrophysics in Southern California Meeting, UCSB (October 2002)
- Meeting of the American Physical Society, Albuquerque (April 2002)
- 3rd Capra Ranch Meeting on Radiation Reaction, Caltech (June 2000)
- 14th National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Univ. of Montana (April 2000)
- 16th Pacific Coast Gravity Meeting, Caltech (March 2000)
- SURF Seminar Day, Caltech (October 1999)
- SURF Seminar Day, Caltech (October 1997)
Conferences Organized
- 2nd Santa Barbara Astrophysics Meeting, KITP, co-organized with Lars Bildsten, Marusa Bradac, and Marton Hidas, May 2, 2008
- 1st Santa Barbara Astrophysics Meeting, KITP, co-organized with Lars Bildsten, Nairn Baliber, and Phil Marshall, May 4, 2007
- 6th Annual Theoretical Astrophysics in Southern California (TASC) Meeting, KITP, co-organized with Lars Bildsten and Eric Pfahl, October 20, 2006
Awards, Memberships, & Service
- Referee for The Astrophysical Journal Letters, The Physical Review Letters, Physical Review D, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, International Journal of Modern Physics A
- NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009
- NASA Space Grant Fellow, 2002, 2004-2005
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) Graduate Fellow, Fall 2002
- Cornell Sage Fellow, 2000-2001
- Sons of Italy National Education & Leadership Award, 2000
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Perpall Speaking Award finalist, 1999
- National Merit Award Finalist, 1996
- AP Scholar, 1996
- Merck Science Award, NJ Statewide Physics Competition, 1995
Press and Media
- Research featured in When black holes collide, by Steve Nadis, cover story for Astronomy magazine, (May 2006) [local pdf]
- RIT press release New study shows how black holes get their kicks, (3-Feb-2004) [local pdf]
- Interview and photo for cover story Caltech comes out on top, by Ben Wildavsky, US News and World Report College Rankings Issue, (August 1999) [local pdf], [link to article on usnews website](no images)
- Interview and photo for Scholar of the Week column, A facility for physics, and just about everything else, by David P. Biggy, Bergen Record (NJ), (2-Jan-1996)
Computer Skills
Proficiency in Maple, LaTeX, HTML; Windows, Mac, Linux OS; Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint. Knowledgeable in Mathematica, Matlab, C/C++, CSS.
Foreign Languages
Elementary conversational ability in Italian and Korean.
Undergraduate Research
- Summer 1999, Caltech, adviser: Kip S. Thorne. Studied tidal work done in a binary system and showed that the expression for the work is invariant when changing how gravitational energy is localized. (See my research page for details)
- Summer 1998, Caltech, adviser: S. George Djorgovski. Processed scans of photographic plates from Digitized Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Worked on search for high-redshift quasars. Participated in observing runs at the Palomar 200-inch and 60-inch telescopes.
- Summer 1997, Caltech, adviser: Thomas Prince. Studied correlations between accretion torque and flux changes in low-mass x-ray binaries.
References
- Lars Bildsten, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
- Eanna E. Flanagan, Cornell University
- Daniel E. Holz, Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Scott A. Hughes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Last updated on October 17, 2009