Research
I began my graduate studies in June 2007, as a member of the planetary
group working with Dr. Jim Murphy. Over the summer I worked with a Mars Global Climate Model and developed a program to compare the model results with results from TES on MGS. In Spring 2008, I began working with the GITM (or MWACM) model in development by the University of Michigan, comparing the results of the GITM 1-D with the GCM 1-D results.
Undergraduate Work
I was a summer research assistant at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO) in Socorro, NM during 2006. I worked with Dr. Bryan Butler to create a
radar map of the Martian surface, reducing and analyzing data collected by
using the Goldstone 70-meter antenna as a transmitter and the Very Large Array
(VLA) as a receiver during the 2003 Mars opposition. I focused upon the lava
flows in the Elysium and Tharsis volcanic regions, to understand their strong,
yet varied, reflectivity at 3.5 cm by evaluating age, composition, and
morphology variations between the regions.
I have also worked with Dr. Cornelia Lang and Allison Mercer at the University
of Iowa, analyzing 8.5 and 22.5 GHz radio observations of seven luminous
blue variable sources, massive stars within an important, but short-lived,
evolutionary phase marked by extreme mass-loss events. My honors thesis was
based on these data, and examined the compact and nebular structures
associated with the stellar source AFGL 2298. I determined the spectral index
of the radio emission and calculated mass-loss rates, and examined the
associated expansion into the surrounding interstellar medium.
I have also conducted a number of group research projects in the field of
radio astronomy, with resources available while an undergraduate at the
University of Iowa. I used the University of Iowa 10-foot Small Radio
Telescope (SRT) to map neutral hydrogen along the spiral arm structures of the
Galactic Plane, and my classmates and I obtained VLA time to observe a radio
galaxy and a supernova remnant.
I am quite interested in planetary science
and in astrobiology, including the possibility of finding fossilized bacterial
remains, and in particular in the planet Mars.
I am pleased to acknowledge support from a Consortium for Higher Education
HED Fellowship for women in the sciences.
Meetings
June 2008: International Planetary Probe Workshop, The Martian Atmosphere: Comparison with a Numerical Model
M.R. Chizek, S.S. Bussard, J.R. Murphy
January 2007: American Astronomical Society meeting, High Resolution Radio Observations of the Nebulae of Luminous
Blue Variable Stars
A. Mercer, M. Chizek, C. C. Lang, D. F. Figer, &
P. Najarro
October 2006: American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, Goldstone/VLA 3.5-cm Mars Radar Observations - Volcanic Regions
M. R. Chizek, B. J. Butler, M. A. Slade, A. F. Haldemann, D. O. Muhleman, &
T. F. Mao
October 2006: American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, Goldstone/VLA 3.5cm Mars Radar Observations - "Stealths" and South Polar Regions
B. J. Butler, M. R. Chizek, M. A. Slade, A. F. Haldemann, D. O. Muhleman, &
T. F. Mao
Teaching
Fall 2008
ASTR 105: The Planets
Spring 2008
ASTR 105: The Planets
Fall 2007
ASTR 301G: Revolutionary Ideas in Science
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