CAREER: Improving Critical Pipelines in Harnessing the Power of Galaxy Surveys and in Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Minorities

伯林德博士将实施一项计划，帮助加强两条关键的“管道”。第一个流水线开始于红移测量中对星系团的测量，例如斯隆数字巡天(SDSS)，最后结束于对宇宙学和星系形成的物理理解。这一流程包括获得对统计和系统误差的无偏估计，完善用于拟合数据的理论模型，执行拟合，并解释结果。正在筹备中的每一步都需要一个关键工具，那就是宇宙N体模拟和相关的模拟星系星表。Berlind博士将完成LasDamas模拟项目，并利用它在SDSS中对星系两点、三点和群组统计数据进行联合建模。这应该会对星系性质与其底层暗物质晕之间的关系产生迄今为止最强的限制。LasDamas模拟还将被用来以前所未有的精度研究暗物质晕的详细性质。第二个渠道是从代表不足的少数族裔群体中培养出专业的天文学家。这条管道在K-12、本科生和研究生部分存在“漏洞”，导致少数民族博士的出生率非常低。伯林德博士将实施一系列旨在修补这条泄漏管道的计划。这些措施包括(1)为K-12年级的学生设立奖学金，让他们参加戴尔天文台的夏令营；(2)设立奖学金，以支持菲斯克大学的物理本科生；(3)举办本科生暑期研究实习；(4)为菲斯克-范德比尔特桥的硕士学生设计和教授统计和数据分析强化工作坊。

Dr. Berlind will carry out a program to help strengthen two critical "pipelines." The first pipeline starts with measurements of galaxy clustering in redshift surveys, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and ends in a physical understanding of cosmology and galaxy formation. The pipeline involves obtaining unbiased estimates of statistical and systematic errors, refining theoretical models used to fit the data, performing the fitting, and interpreting the results. A key tool required for every step in the pipeline is cosmological N-body simulations and associated mock galaxy catalogs. Dr. Berlind will complete the LasDamas simulations project and use it to enable the joint modeling of galaxy two-point, three-point, and group statistics in the SDSS. This should yield the strongest constraints to date on the relationship between galaxy properties and their underlying dark matter halos. The LasDamas simulations will also be used to study the detailed properties of dark matter halos with unprecedented precision. The second pipeline is the one that produces professional astronomers from underrepresented minority groups. This pipeline has "leaks" at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate parts, resulting in a very poor production rate of minority PhDs. Dr. Berlind will put in place a series of programs designed to patch this leaky pipeline. These include (1) creating scholarships for K-12 students to attend summer camps at Dyer Observatory, (2) creating a scholarship to support undergraduate physics students at Fisk University, (3) running an undergraduate summer research internship, and (4) designing and teaching an intensive workshop on statistics and data analysis for Fisk-Vanderbilt Bridge Masters students.