Rebecca Kyer

I am a multiwavelength observational astronomer interested in compact binary interactions and accretion physics. For my PhD I primarily study transitional millisecond pulsars with Prof. Jay Strader. I routinely observe with the 4.1-meter Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope located in Chile, and I have been the Principal Investigator of successful proposals awarded time by the Swift and XMM-Newton X-ray missions and the ground-based Gemini Observatory.

I have served as the primary research advisor to undergraduate students at MSU who worked on identifying new "spider" pulsar candidates and discovering new radio nebulae assoicated with ultraluminous X-ray sources.

Prior to my graduate studies, I studied the X-ray variability of sources in M33 to characterize the duty cycles of high-mass X-ray binaries; created a database of the Liverpool Telescope's spectroscopic nova observations to model their ejecta; and searched for state-changing X-ray binary candidates with optical light curves from the Zwicky Transient Facility.

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First-Author Publications

I organize two programs at MSU that support undergraduates in astronomy and aim to retain students from underrepresented backgrounds: the Stellar Mentorship Program, and Physics and Astronomy Research Experiences for Drew Scholars (PAREDS).

Within the MSU Astro Group, I organize our weekly Astro Coffee journal club. I volunteer at the MSU campus observatory's public outreach nights, and I have presented photographic plate observations acquired there in the 1970's at Astronomy on Tap in Lansing. I am currently working to digitize the photographic plate collection to make it available to the community. Below is a scan of a plate targeting the Orion Nebula observed at the MSU campus observatory in 1971.

• Grader for AST 208: Planets and Telescopes, a lab for astronomy majors learning to work with optical data in Python (1 semester at MSU).
• Instructor and grader for ISP 205L: Visions of the Universe, an introduction to astronomy lab for non-STEM majors (3 semesters at MSU).
• Instructor and grader for GEN ST 199: First-Year Interest Group for Astronomy, an introductory college seminar (1 quarter at University of Washington)
• Recieved Harlo Mervyn Mork Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award from the MSU College of Natural Science (Fall 2023).
• Recieved Graduate TA Award from the MSU Department of Physics and Astronomy (Spring 2023, Spring 2024).

See my full CV

One of my favorite hobbies is shooting film and working in a darkroom. I'm lucky enough to be in the same city as the last remaining community darkroom in the state of Michigan: Community Darkroom 517. Check out info about that space and some of my work below.

• CD 517
• My Film Instagram