Megan Masterson

Megan Masterson

5th Year PhD Candidate @ MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research

Teaching

Teaching Assistant for MIT 12.411 (Astronomy Field Camp)

Undergraduate Course, MIT, 2023

As part of MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP, or essentially a January term), I was the TA for 12.411, an undergraduate astronomy field camp that took place at Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife. I assisted students with 8 nights of observing on 4 different telescopes (0.6-1.5m) at the observatory, as well as with data analysis, interpretation, and final report writing. At the end of the three week long field camp, the students’ presented their work at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), which was highlighted by the IAC in this article.

Teaching Assistant for MIT 12.410/8.287 (Observational Techniques of Optical Astronomy)

Undergraduate Course, MIT, 2022

During the Fall 2022 semester, I TA’d 12.410/8.287 at MIT, the undergraduate course on observational techniques of optical astronomy. The course involved students learning about the basics of observational astronomy and designing, executing, and writing-up their own observational astronomy project. As the TA, I took students to Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (WAO) in Westford, MA for weekly observing with the 14in and 24in telescopes, and I also assisted with project design, data analysis, and write-up.

Teacher for Various MIT Educational Studies Program Events

Middle/High School Classes, MIT Educational Studies Program, 2021

During the spring and summer of 2021, I was a volunteer teacher for two events through the MIT Educational Studies Program. In one of these events, I taught 30 middle school students about supermassive black holes and active galaxies during a single hour-long class. The other event consisted of three hour-long classes focused on various topics in black hole astrophysics, aimed at late high school students and co-taught with another MIT astrophysics PhD student.