Employment Assistant Professor beginning Sept 2013 Rutgers University Grainger Postdoctoral Fellow 2011 -- present U Wisconsin, Madison Sherman Fairchild Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics 2008 -- 2011 California Insitute of Technology

Contact Information email: abrooks at astro.wisc.edu office phone: (608) 890-3763 Mail: Dept of Astronomy U Wisconsin, Madison 475 N. Charter St. Madison, WI 53706

Education University of Washington Summer 2008 Ph.D. in Astronomy Thesis Title: "The Role of Gas in the Evolution of Disk Galaxies" Thesis Advisor: Fabio Governato University of Washington Sept 2004 M.S. in Astronomy Macalester College Dec 2000 B.A. in Physics with Astronomy emphasis, magna cum laude
Honors Tinsley Visiting Scholar, UT Austin, Spring 2010 Space Grant Fellow, Spring 2008 Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, 2005 Space Grant Fellow, 2002-2003

Diversity & Outreach
Girl Scouts Led "Big Explosions & Strong Gravity" workshop event for Girl Scouts of greater Los Angeles.	May 2009
Pre-Major in Astronomy Program (Pre-MAP) Coordinated outreach and information sessions on the Astronomy Department's Pre-MAP program.	Fall 2005 -- Spring 2006
The Ronald E. McNair & The Early Identification Programs U. Washington Office of Minority Affairs Graduate Advisor. Mentored underrepresented undergraduates in their research and graduate school preparation process. Designed and led workshops about the graduate application process and tools for successful research. Coordinated annual undergraduate research symposium.	Fall 2003 -- Spring 2005
SMARTGirls Expand Your Horizons Annual workshop addressing science and diversity with middle school girls.	2003/2004 2005/2011

PostDoctoral Research Experience
Grainger Postdoctoral Fellow U Wisconsin, Madison Madison, WI 53706	2011 -- present
Sherman Fairchild Postdoctoral Prize Fellow Caltech Pasadena, CA 91125	2008 -- 2011

Pre-Doctoral Research Experience
Graduate Student Researcher, U. Washington Supervisors: Fabio Governato & Tom Quinn Analyzed N-body simulations of disk galaxies to discover 1) the origin of the stellar mass - metallicity relation, 2) the gas accretion history and angular momentum buildup of disks, and 3) the high z progenitors of MW-like galaxies.	2005 -- 2008
Graduate Research Assistant, U. Washington Supervisor: George Wallerstein Tested the Ca II triplet as a metallicity indicator in M supergiants.	2005
Research Associate, Columbia U. Supervisor: David Helfand Searched for supernova remnants in the XMM Galactic Plane Survey.	2001-2002
Research Associate, Macalester College Supervisor: Kim Venn Measured spectroscopic boron abundances in B-stars to 1) test rotational depletion scenarios during main-sequence evolution and 2) test light element production via cosmic ray spallation.	1999-2001
Arecibo Observatory Summer REU Student Supervisor: Snezana Stanimirovic Mapped the northern tip of the Magellanic Stream in HI as a test of Galactic halo confinement scenarios.	Summer 2000
Space Telescope Science Institute Summer Student Supervisor: Brian Espey Determined redshifts and fit absorption templates to Lyman alpha and CIV in AGN spectra.	Summer 1999

Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, U. Washington Led discussion section for Introductory Astronomy.	Fall 2002, 2006, 2007
Teaching Assistant, U. Washington Led discussion section for introductory course on The Planets.	Winter,Spring 2003

Observing Experience
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (CTIO, Apache Point Observatory, Keck-II/DEIMOS) UV Spectroscopy (HST-STIS) Optical Spectroscopy (CTIO, Apache Point Observatory) HI Radio Observations (Arecibo Radio Observatory)

Invited Talks
Hamilton Island, Australia, Feeding, Feedback, and Fireworks: Celebrating Our Cosmic Landscape	June 2013
KITP, Santa Barbara, CA, Identifying and Characterizing Dark Matter via Multiple Probes	May 2013
Lijiang, China, Dissecting Galaxies with 2D Wide-field Spectroscopy	March 2013
Carnegie Observatories, Astronomy Colloqium	Feb 2013
UC Riverside, Astronomy Seminar Notre Dame, Astronomy Seminar Series Michigan State U, Astronomy Colloquium U Michigan, Astronomy Colloquium	Jan 2013
Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, "Nature of Dark Matter" series	Nov 2012
Macalester College, Physics Colloquium	Sept 2012
STScI, May Symposium, Gas Flows in Galaxies	May 2012
U Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Astronomy Colloquium	April 2012
AAO, Sydney, Australia, Large Surveys in the Multi-IFS Era U Massachusetts, Amherst, Astronomy Colloquium	Feb 2012
Rutgers University, Astrophysics Seminar	Jan 2012
Queen's University, Astronomy Seminar	Nov 2011
Northwestern U, The Future of Astronomy	Sept 2011
UCLA, Astronomy Colloquium	May 2011
Fermilab, Particle Astrophysics Seminar	Nov 2010
U Wisconsin, Madison, Astronomy Colloquium UC Santa Cruz, Astronomy Colloquium	Oct 2010
UC San Diego, Astrophysics Seminar Series	Sept 2010
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2010
KIAA, Beijing, China, Chemistry, Dynamics, and Structure of the Milky Way	July 2010
U Texas Austin, Visiting Tinsley Scholar Lecture	April 2010
U Arizona, Theoretical Astrophysics Program, Seminar Series	Jan 2010
Sydney, Australia, Missing Baryons, Accretion, and Feedback in Galaxies	Dec 2009
Space Telescope Science Institute, Colloquium Series UC Berkeley, Theoretical Astrophysics Center, Seminar Series	Nov 2009
U Texas, Austin, Frank N. Bash Symposium	Oct 2009
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2009
Los Alamos National Lab, Astrophysics Colloquium JPL, Astrophysics Seminar Series	April 2009
Carnegie Observatories, Lunch Talk Series UC Irvine, Astrophysics Seminar Series	March 2009
IPAC (Caltech), Lunch Seminar UC Santa Cruz, invited lunch talk	Feb 2009
Cambridge University, Insitute of Astronomy Seminar Series University of Zurich, Astronomy Dept Max Plank Institute for Astrophysics, Garching	Sept 2008
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2008
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Institute for Theory & Computation, Seminar Series	Dec 2007
Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics, Seminar Series University of British Columbia, Astronomy Colloquium Series	Sept 2007
UC Santa Cruz, Galaxy Formation and Evolution Workshop	Aug 2007
UC Santa Cruz, invited lunch talk UC Berkeley, Radio Astronomy Lab Seminar	May 2007

Last modified: 03-January-2012