Mark Pecaut has gone from selling propane and propane-related accessories to peddling physics. He is an "N-th" year graduate student in Physics and Astronomy at Rochester, where N=2.
Mark is currently investigating the star-forming history of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. He hopes to learn where the stars are getting their propane fuel and who lit them on fire.
Research Interests
- star formation history of young, nearby moving groups
- stellar evolution (vague, I know)
- data mining, automated data analysis, statistical methods in astronomy
About Mark
Mark received his BS in Physics and Mathematics from Truman State University in 1998. He worked as a civil draftsman, network administrator and a web lackey until 2001 when he joined the Peace Corps with his wife. He taught Physics and Mathematics in Ghana, West Africa until the completion of his service in 2003. Most recently, he was an information systems programmer for the Wyoming department of Workforce Services. Mark begun graduate school at the University of Rochester in 2008, and is working with Eric Mamajek on the star formation history of nearby young moving groups, stellar evolution, and automated data analysis and statistical methods. These broad topics will be narrowed down as Mark gets a clue.
Right now Mark is attempting to build an automated spectral classification machine that takes a normalized spectrum and determines the spectral type to within one spectral subtype. When successful, it may be eventually expanded to output effective temperatures, metallicities, surface gravity and the current market price of propane.