Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Amber N Straughn

(RSCH AST, STIR GALCTIC&XTRGLTC ASTR)

 amber.n.straughn@nasa.gov

 301.286.7098

Org Code: 660

NASA/GSFC
Mail Code: 660
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Employer: NASA

Brief Bio


Dr. Amber Straughn joined the Laboratory for Observational Cosmology as a civil servant in March 2011, after spending 2.5 years at Goddard as the NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow for the James Webb Space Telescope.  Her current research involves star formation in intermediate redshift galaxies (z~2) and galaxy morphologies.  In addition to her research, Amber also serves as the Deputy Project Scientist for JWST Science Communications.

Find my full CV here.

Website: amberstraughn.com

Research Interests


Astrophysics: Galaxies

Galaxy formation and evolution; galaxy mergers and interactions; galaxy merger rate; physical processes induced by galaxy interactions, specifically star formation and black hole growth; emission-line galaxies; grism spectroscopy; dark energy and its effect on the galaxy merger rate; James Webb Space Telescope & supporting technologies; WFIRST

Positions/Employment


Astrophysicist; Deputy Project Scientist for JWST Science Communications

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

April 2011 - Present

 


NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; ORAU - Greenbelt, MD

2008 - 2011


NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellow

Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ

2005 - 2008


Graduate Student Research & Teaching Assistant

Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ

2002 - 2005


Chancellor's Fellow

University of Arkansas - Fayetteville, AR

1998 - 2002

Education


Ph.D., Physics, Arizona State University (2008)

M.S., Physics, Arizona State University (2005)

B.S., Physics, Magna Cum Laude, University of Arkansas (2002)

Publications


Refereed

Mattson, B., S. Mitchell, R. McElvery, et al. F. Reddy, S. Wiessinger, C. Skelly, C. Saravia, A. Straughn, and D. Washington. 2018. [Insert Your Science Here] Week: Creating science-driven public awareness campaigns American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #231 231 360.05

Henry, A. L., C. Scarlata, A. Dominguez, et al. M. Malkan, C. L. Martin, B. Siana, H. Atek, A. G. Bedregal, J. W. Colbert, M. Rafelski, N. Ross, H. Teplitz, A. J. Bunker, A. Dressler, N. Hathi, D. Masters, P. McCarthy, and A. N. Straughn. 2013. Low Masses and High Redshifts: The Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation ApJ 776 27L

Grogin, N. A., D. D. Kocevski, S. M. Faber, et al. H. C. Ferguson, A. M. Koekemoer, A. G. Riess, V. Acquaviva, D. M. Alexander, O. Almaini, M. L. Ashby, M. Barden, E. F. Bell, F. Bournaud, T. M. Brown, K. I. Caputi, S. Casertano, P. Cassata, M. Castellano, P. Challis, R.-R. Chary, E. Cheung, M. Cirasuolo, C. J. Conselice, A. R. Cooray, D. J. Croton, E. Daddi, T. Dahlen, R. Davé, D. F. de Mello, A. Dekel, M. Dickinson, T. Dolch, J. L. Donley, J. S. Dunlop, A. A. Dutton, D. Elbaz, G. G. Fazio, A. V. Filippenko, S. L. Finkelstein, A. Fontana, J. P. Gardner, P. M. Garnavich, E. Gawiser, M. Giavalisco, A. Grazian, Y. Guo, N. P. Hathi, B. Häussler, P. F. Hopkins, J.-S. Huang, K.-H. Huang, S. W. Jha, J. S. Kartaltepe, R. P. Kirshner, D. C. Koo, K. Lai, K.-S. Lee, W. Li, J. M. Lotz, R. A. Lucas, P. Madau, P. J. McCarthy, E. J. McGrath, D. H. McIntosh, R. J. McLure, B. Mobasher, L. A. Moustakas, M. Mozena, K. Nandra, J. A. Newman, S.-M. Niemi, K. G. Noeske, C. J. Papovich, L. Pentericci, A. Pope, J. R. Primack, A. Rajan, S. Ravindranath, N. A. Reddy, A. Renzini, H.-W. Rix, A. R. Robaina, S. A. Rodney, D. J. Rosario, P. Rosati, S. Salimbeni, C. Scarlata, B. Siana, L. Simard, J. Smidt, R. S. Somerville, H. Spinrad, A. N. Straughn, L.-G. Strolger, O. Telford, H. I. Teplitz, J. R. Trump, A. van der Wel, C. Villforth, R. H. Wechsler, B. J. Weiner, T. Wiklind, V. Wild, G. Wilson, S. Wuyts, H.-J. Yan, and M. S. Yun. 2011. CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 197 (2): 35 [10.1088/0067-0049/197/2/35]

Koekemoer, A. M., S. M. Faber, H. C. Ferguson, et al. N. A. Grogin, D. D. Kocevski, D. C. Koo, K. Lai, J. M. Lotz, R. A. Lucas, E. J. McGrath, S. Ogaz, A. Rajan, A. G. Riess, S. A. Rodney, L. Strolger, S. Casertano, M. Castellano, T. Dahlen, M. Dickinson, T. Dolch, A. Fontana, M. Giavalisco, A. Grazian, Y. Guo, N. P. Hathi, K.-H. Huang, A. van der Wel, H.-J. Yan, V. Acquaviva, D. M. Alexander, O. Almaini, M. L. Ashby, M. Barden, E. F. Bell, F. Bournaud, T. M. Brown, K. I. Caputi, P. Cassata, P. J. Challis, R.-R. Chary, E. Cheung, M. Cirasuolo, C. J. Conselice, A. R. Cooray, D. J. Croton, E. Daddi, R. Davé, D. F. de Mello, L. de Ravel, A. Dekel, J. L. Donley, J. S. Dunlop, A. A. Dutton, D. Elbaz, G. G. Fazio, A. V. Filippenko, S. L. Finkelstein, C. Frazer, J. P. Gardner, P. M. Garnavich, E. Gawiser, R. Gruetzbauch, W. G. Hartley, B. Häussler, J. Herrington, P. F. Hopkins, J.-S. Huang, S. W. Jha, A. Johnson, J. S. Kartaltepe, A. A. Khostovan, R. P. Kirshner, C. Lani, K.-S. Lee, W. Li, P. Madau, P. J. McCarthy, D. H. McIntosh, R. J. McLure, C. McPartland, B. Mobasher, H. Moreira, A. Mortlock, L. A. Moustakas, M. Mozena, K. Nandra, J. A. Newman, J. L. Nielsen, S. Niemi, K. G. Noeske, C. J. Papovich, L. Pentericci, A. Pope, J. R. Primack, S. Ravindranath, N. A. Reddy, A. Renzini, H.-W. Rix, A. R. Robaina, D. J. Rosario, P. Rosati, S. Salimbeni, C. Scarlata, B. Siana, L. Simard, J. Smidt, D. Snyder, R. S. Somerville, H. Spinrad, A. N. Straughn, O. Telford, H. I. Teplitz, J. R. Trump, C. Vargas, C. Villforth, C. R. Wagner, P. Wandro, R. H. Wechsler, B. J. Weiner, T. Wiklind, V. Wild, G. Wilson, S. Wuyts, and M. S. Yun. 2011. CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey—The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products, and Mosaics The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 197 (2): 36 [10.1088/0067-0049/197/2/36]

van der Wel, A., A. N. Straughn, H.-W. Rix, et al. S. L. Finkelstein, A. M. Koekemoer, B. J. Weiner, S. Wuyts, E. F. Bell, S. M. Faber, J. R. Trump, D. C. Koo, H. C. Ferguson, C. Scarlata, N. P. Hathi, J. S. Dunlop, J. A. Newman, M. Dickinson, K. Jahnke, B. W. Salmon, D. F. de Mello, D. D. Kocevski, K. Lai, N. A. Grogin, S. A. Rodney, Y. Guo, E. J. McGrath, K.-S. Lee, G. Barro, K.-H. Huang, A. G. Riess, M. L. Ashby, and S. P. Willner. 2011. Extreme Emission-Line Galaxies in CANDELS: Broadband-Selected, Starbursting Dwarf Galaxies at z> 1 The Astrophysical Journal 742 (2): 111 [10.1088/0004-637x/742/2/111]

Xia, L., S. Malhotra, J. Rhoads, et al. N. Pirzkal, Z. Zheng, G. Meurer, A. N. Straughn, N. Grogin, and D. Floyd. 2011. Spectroscopic Study of the HST/ACS PEARS Emission-line Galaxies Astronomical Journal 141 (64):

Straughn, A. N., H. Kuntschner, M. Kuemmel, et al. J. Walsh, S. Cohen, J. P. Gardner, R. Windhorst, R. OConnell, N. Pirzkal, G. Meurer, P. Mccarthy, N. Hathi, S. Malhotra, J. Rhoads, B. Balick, H. Bond, D. Calzetti, M. Disney, M. Dopita, J. Frogel, D. Hall, J. Holtzman, R. A. Kimble, M. Mutchler, F. Paresce, A. Saha, J. Silk, J. Trauger, A. Walker, B. Whitmore, E. Young, and C. Xu. 2011. HST WFC3 Early Release Science: Emission–Line Galaxies from Infrared Grism Observations Astronomical Journal 141 (14):

Windhorst, R. A., S. H. Cohen, N. P. Hathi, et al. P. J. McCarthy, R. E. Ryan, H. Yan, I. K. Baldry, S. P. Driver, J. A. Frogel, D. T. Hill, L. S. Kelvin, A. M. Koekemoer, M. Mechtley, R. W. O'Connell, A. S. Robotham, M. J. Rutkowski, M. Seibert, A. N. Straughn, R. J. Tuffs, B. Balick, H. E. Bond, H. Bushouse, D. Calzetti, M. Crockett, M. J. Disney, M. A. Dopita, D. N. Hall, J. A. Holtzman, S. Kaviraj, R. A. Kimble, J. W. MacKenty, M. Mutchler, F. Paresce, A. Saha, J. I. Silk, J. T. Trauger, A. R. Walker, B. C. Whitmore, and E. T. Young. 2011. The Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 Early Release Science Data: Panchromatic Faint Object Counts for 02-2 _m Wavelength The Astrophysical Journal Supplement 193 27 [10.1088/0067-0049/193/2/27]

Cassata, P., M. Giavalisco, Y. Guo, et al. H. Ferguson, A. M. Koekemoer, A. Renzini, A. Fontana, S. Salimbeni, M. Dickinson, S. Casertano, C. J. Conselice, N. Grogin, J. M. Lotz, C. Papovich, R. A. Lucas, A. Straughn, J. P. Gardner, and L. Moustakas. 2010. The Morphology Of Passively Evolving Galaxies at z ∼ 2 from <i>Hubble Space Telescope/</i>WFC3 Deep Imaging in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field ApJ Letters 714 (1): L79-L83 [10.1088/2041-8205/714/1/L79]

Rhoads, J. E., S. Malhotra, N. Pirzkal, et al. M. Dickinson, S. Cohen, N. Grogin, N. Hathi, C. Xu, I. Ferreras, C. Gronwall, A. Koekemoer, M. Kümmel, G. Meurer, N. Panagia, A. Pasquali, R. Ryan, A. Straughn, J. Walsh, R. A. Windhorst, and H.-J. Yan. 2009. Spectroscopic Confirmation of Faint Lyman Break Galaxies Near Redshift Five in The Hubble Ultra Deep Field The Astrophysical Journal 697 (1): 942-949 [10.1088/0004-637x/697/1/942]

Straughn, A. N. 2009. Tracing Galaxy Assembly: A Study of Merging & Emission-Line Galaxies with HST PASP 121 (883): 1039

Straughn, A. N., N. Pirzkal, G. R. Meurer, et al. S. H. Cohen, R. A. Windhorst, S. Malhotra, J. Rhoads, J. P. Gardner, N. P. Hathi, R. A. Jansen, N. Grogin, N. Panagia, S. di Serego Alighieri, C. Gronwall, J. Walsh, A. Pasquali, and C. Xu. 2009. Emission-Line Galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope Probing Evolution and Reionization Spectroscopically (PEARS) Grism Survey. I. The South Fields The Astronomical Journal 138 (4): 1022-1031 [10.1088/0004-6256/138/4/1022]

Straughn, A. N., G. R. Meurer, N. Pirzkal, et al. S. H. Cohen, S. Malhotra, J. Rhoads, R. A. Windhorst, J. P. Gardner, N. P. Hathi, C. Xu, C. Gronwall, A. M. Koekemoer, J. Walsh, and S. D. Alighieri. 2008. Emission-Line Galaxies from the PEARS Hubble Ultra Deep Field: A 2-D Detection Method and First Results The Astronomical Journal 135 (4): 1624-1635 [10.1088/0004-6256/135/4/1624]

Straughn, A. N., S. H. Cohen, R. E. Ryan, et al. N. P. Hathi, R. A. Windhorst, and R. A. Jansen. 2006. Tracing Galaxy Assembly: Tadpole Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field The Astrophysical Journal 639 (2): 724-730 [10.1086/499576]