Reinabelle Reyes

Department of Astrophysical Sciences
Princeton University
Peyton Hall
4 Ivy Lane
Princeton, NJ 08544
rreyes[at]astro.princeton.edu
phone: (609) 258-0629
fax: (609) 258-8226

You can call me Reina. I am a graduate student in Astrophysics at Princeton University. In my thesis work, I seek to increase our understanding about the dark matter distribution in and around spiral galaxies, using kinematic tracers (primarily H-alpha rotation curves) and galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements. I have the pleasure of working closely with my adviser Jim Gunn (my future family tree here), Rachel Mandelbaum (a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute next door), and lots and lots of wonderful data from the SDSS!

Before coming to Princeton, I spent a year studying theoretical particle physics at ICTP (International Center of Theoretical Physics) in beautiful Trieste, Italy. I received my undergraduate degree in Physics from Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines-- my home country.

For the curious, my name "Reina" means "queen" (in Spanish/Filipino), "Belle" means "beautiful" (in French/a certain Disney film) and "Reyes" means "kings" (in Spanish)-- so in a phrase: "beautiful queen of kings." :)

Research Interests

• Galaxy formation -- observational constraints
• Weak gravitational lensing
• Observational cosmology
• Survey science (SDSS; Sloan Digital Sky Survey)

• Lensing and dynamics of spiral galaxies in SDSS (thesis work)
  Collaborators: Jim Gunn, Rachel Mandelbaum, James Pizagno (SUNY-Stony Brook)
• Test of gravity on large scales using weak lensing and clustering measurements of SDSS luminous red galaxies
  Collaborators: Rachel Mandelbaum (IAS), Lucas Lombriser (Univ. of Zurich), Uros Seljak (UC Berkeley), Jim Gunn (Princeton)
• Constraining the amplitude of fluctuations (\sigma_8) using galaxy clusters
  Collaborators: Rachel Mandelbaum (IAS), Neta Bahcall (Princeton), Chris Hirata (Caltech), Uros Seljak (UC Berkeley)
  
• Dust emission in the infrared spectra of SINGS galaxies
  Collaborators: Bruce Draine (Princeton)

• Reyes, R., Mandelbaum, R., Hirata, C., Bahcall, N. & Seljak, U. 2008, Improved Optical Mass Tracer for Galaxy Clusters Calibrated Using Weak Lensing Measurements, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 390, 1157 (NASA ADS entry) (astro-ph)
  
• Reyes, R., Zakamska, N.L., Strauss, M.A., et al. 2008, Space Density of Optically Selected Type 2 Quasars, The Astronomical Journal, 136, 2373 (AJ abstract) (astro-ph)
  (online catalog) (press release) (news article) (AAS poster)
  

    2009

• AAS 213th Meeting, Long Beach, California, January 4-8, 2009

    2008

• SDSS Symposium 2008: From Asteroids to Cosmology, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, August 2008
• Modified Gravity on Cosmological Scales, Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, UK, June 2008
• SDSS Large-Scale Structure/BOSS (Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey) Working Group Meeting, Steward Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, February 2008
• AAS 211th Meeting, Austin, Texas, January 2008

    2007

• SDSS-II (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) Collaboration Meeting, Drexel University, Philadelphia, March 2007
• SCS PIRE Summer School on the Large Scale Structure-CMB Connection, Santiago, Chile, March 2007

• Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, Honorable Mention, American Astronomical Society, 211th Meeting (2007)
• Centennial Fellowship, Princeton University Graduate School (2006-2010)
• Merit Prize Fellowship Grant, Princeton University Graduate School (2006-2010)
• Martin Schwarschild Graduate Fellowship, Princeton University (2006-2007)
• Academic Scholarship, Ateneo de Manila University (2001-2005)
• Merit Science Scholarship, Philippine Department of Science and Technology (2001-2005)

• Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA (2006-present)
• Diploma in High Energy Physics, Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy (2005-2006)
• B.S. in Physics, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines (2001-2005, Summa cum Laude)
• High School Diploma, Philippine Science High School, Quezon City, Philippines (2001, Valedictorian)