Joey Shapiro Key, Associate Professor
Biography
Dr. Key earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in physics at Montana State University in 2014 and 2010, respectively. She completed her undergraduate degree in Astrophysics with highest honors from Williams College. She has worked for the Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) and Montana NASA EPSCoR programs as an Education Specialist as well as serving as a Research Assistant Professor and Director of Education and Outreach at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy (CGWA) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
Research
Dr. Key’s research includes astrophysical parameter estimation for gravitational wave signals across the gravitational wave frequency band. She works in international gravitational wave astronomy collaborations including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO), the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav), and the NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. She is also dedicated to education research to better understand how to best teach physics and astronomy with diverse student bodies.
Education
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Ph.D. Physics
M.S. Physics
Williams College, Williamstown, MA
B.A. Astrophysics
Teaching Interests
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics
- Cosmology
Courses
- Introduction to Astronomy
- The Cosmos
- Classical Mechanics
- Introduction to Astrophysics I
- Introduction to Astrophysics II
- Computational and Theoretical Modeling in Physics
- Physics Seminar