katie peek

Current
Position

Junior Designer, Popular Science magazine, N.Y. since January 2011

Design and commission illustrations to accompany feature stories, research data visualizations and infographics, lay out pages, act as in-house astronomer.

Education

New York University Arther L. Carter Institute of Journalism December 2010

MA with certificate from the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP)

University of California, Berkeley Astronomy Department August 2009

Ph.D. in astrophysics, Clare Boothe Luce fellow

Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. May 2002

BA summa cum laude, astronomy and physics double major; Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Barry M. Goldwater Scholar

Journalism
Experience

Editorial Intern, Popular Science, N.Y. Summer 2010

Reported and wrote front-of-book pieces and a feature, did supplemental reporting for features, and wrote short pieces for PopSci.com.

Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, scienceline.org August 2009–December 2010

Led a 29-person team to publish stories on SHERP’s award-winning in-house online magazine; ran weekly meetings and provided second-round top and copy edits. Reported and wrote stories on ecology, nature and astronomy. Managed the site’s technical backend.

Writer, Editor, Copy Editor Berkeley Science Review, Calif. 2008–2009

Reported, wrote and edited stories for a general-audience science magazine. Edited features; organized the magazine’s annual science writing seminar; proofread for layout, accuracy, grammar and style.

Design
Experience

Art Intern, Popular Science, N.Y. Fall 2010

Learned basics of page layout and print design.

Research
Experience

Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley 2004–2009

Thesis on heavy elements in Milky Way stars as a means of uncovering the star formation history of the Galaxy. Performed the largest europium abundance survey completed to date.

California Planet Search, University of California, Berkeley 2004–2009

Primary observer for Geoff Marcy’s radial velocity extrasolar planet search. Logged over 80 nights on Keck, the world’s biggest optical telescope.

Teaching
Experience

Head Graduate Student Instructor, University of California, Berkeley Fall 2004

Administered an 840-student introductory astronomy course, lectured in the professor’s absence, led 11 teaching assistants and corralled 8 homework graders. Won Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor and Teaching Effectiveness Awards.

High School Teacher, Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, Conn. 2002–2003

Created courses in astronomy and modern physics; taught conceptual physics and Algebra 1; and guided students academically, extracurricularly and residentially.

Outreach

Public Lectures, Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, Calif. July 2008
Project ASTRO / Girls Inc., Oakland, Calif. November 2006, March 2008, Spring 2009
Expanding Your Horizons, Mills College, Oakland, Calif. March 2006, 2007, 2008

Mad Skills

Html, Css, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Flash, Idl, Fortran, Java, Processing, WordPress, Moveable Type, LaTex, FinalCut, Soundslides, &c.