Web Page of Lucas Macri Howdy!
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Science, Texas A&M University, and a member of the George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy.
Before joining the Department, I was a Hubble Fellow and Goldberg Fellow at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. I received my PhD in Astronomy from Harvard University and my BS in Physics from MIT.
If you would like to get in touch with me, my contact information can be found here.
Research
My research interests include the extragalactic distance scale, resolved stellar populations and "near-field" cosmology:
• One of my main research areas involves optical and near-infrared photometry of Cepheid variables in galaxies near and far with the Hubble Space Telescope and various ground-based telescopes. The scientific aim of these projects is to better characterize the properties of Cepheids in different bandpasses as a function of chemical abundance to measure the expansion rate of the Universe (the Hubble constant) with better accuracy and precision. This ultimately allows a better constraint on the equation of state of dark energy. More information on these projects can be found here.
• Another one of my main research areas is a long-term program to obtain redshifts for an all-sky, flux limited sample of about 50,000 galaxies selected from the 2 Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). The scientific aim of this project is to produce the most detailed map of large-scale structure in our region of the Universe, free from the biases and incompleteness present in previous optical-based studies. This project is coupled with a peculiar-velocity survey that uses the Tully-Fisher relation (2MTF) to characterize large-scale flows in the local Supercluster and study the distribution of dark matter. More information on this project can be found here.
I am fortunate to have several people helping me with these projects. A list of current and past members of my group can be found here.
Teaching
Most semesters I teach a section of Astronomy 101, which is an undergraduate course entitled "Basic Astronomy." If you are currently enrolled in this class you may access the online materials here.
Once every two years I teach Astronomy 603, which is a graduate-level course entitled "Stellar Astrophysics." If you are currently enrolled in this class you may access the online materials here.
Outreach
One of my priorities as professor is to reach out to the community to keep them up to date on our latest discoveries and thank them for their taxpayer support. I participate in several public outreach events every year, including:
• The Department's annual Physics Festival and Saturday Morning Physics program.
• Monthly Open House events at the Campus Observatory.
• Public talks at schools, astronomy clubs, and conferences, including the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Texas Speakers Series.
My public outreach talk on "How to measure the age of the Universe" can be found here. If you would like me to give a public talk at your institution, please do not hesistate to contact me.
PhD in Astronomy at Texas A&M
We plan to offer a PhD in Astronomy at Texas A&M, pending approval by the Texas A&M System and the State Coordinating Board of Higher Education. Thus, we are looking for highly qualified undergraduate students who would like to join our group to pursue a PhD in Astronomy. If you are interested in more information, please do not hesitate to contact me, or visit the admissions page here.