CAREER: Improving Critical Pipelines in Harnessing the Power of Galaxy Surveys and in Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Minorities

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Berlind will carry out a program to help strengthen two critical "pipelines." The first pipeline starts with measurements of galaxy clustering in redshift surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and ends in a physical understanding of cosmology and galaxy formation. The pipeline involves obtaining unbiased estimates of statistical and systematic errors, refining theoretical models used to fit the data, performing the fitting, and interpreting the results. A key tool required for every step in the pipeline is cosmological N-body simulations and associated mock galaxy catalogs. Dr. Berlind will complete the LasDamas simulations project and use it to enable the joint modeling of galaxy two-point, three-point, and group statistics in the SDSS. This should yield the strongest constraints to date on the relationship between galaxy properties and their underlying dark matter halos. The LasDamas simulations will also be used to study the detailed properties of dark matter halos with unprecedented precision. The second pipeline is the one that produces professional astronomers from underrepresented minority groups. This pipeline has "leaks" at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate parts, resulting in a very poor production rate of minority PhDs. Dr. Berlind will put in place a series of programs designed to patch this leaky pipeline. These include (1) creating scholarships for K-12 students to attend summer camps at Dyer Observatory, (2) creating a scholarship to support undergraduate physics students at Fisk University, (3) running an undergraduate summer research internship, and (4) designing and teaching an intensive workshop on statistics and data analysis for Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Masters students.