Katharine Reeves is an

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

and

solar physicist Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It deals with detailed measurements that are possible only for our closest star. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics, astrophysics, and compu ...

who works at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). She is known for her work on high temperature plasmas in the

solar corona A corona ( coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma. The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total solar ...

, and measurement/analysis techniques to probe the physics of

magnetic reconnection Magnetic reconnection is a physical process occurring in highly conducting plasmas in which the magnetic topology is rearranged and magnetic energy is converted to kinetic energy, thermal energy, and particle acceleration. Magnetic reconnecti ...

and thermal energy transport during solar flares; these are aspects of the

coronal heating problem A corona ( coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma. The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total so ...

that organizes a large part of the field. She has a strong scientific role in multiple

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

and international

space missions Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed rob ...

to observe the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

: Hinode (Project Scientist for the XRT instrument);

IRIS Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

(Institutional PI for SAO);

SDO A subdwarf O star (sdO) is a type of hot, but low-mass star. O-type subdwarfs are much dimmer than regular O-type main-sequence stars, but with a brightness about 10 to 100 times that of the Sun, and have a mass approximately half that of the Sun. ...

;

Parker Solar Probe The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii ...

; and suborbital sounding rockets including the MaGIXS and Hi-C FLARE high-resolution spectral imaging packages. Reeves has advised multiple graduate students and post-doctoral scholars in the field of solar physics, including Samaiyah Farid, Xie Xiaoyan, Nishu Karna, and Soumya Roy.

Education

*B.A.,

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

*M.S., Northeastern University *Ph.D.,

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

Awards and honors

In 2016, Reeves was awarded the prestigious Karen Harvey Prize by the American Astronomical Society's

Solar Physics Division The Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washi ...

, in recognition of her significant contributions to the study of the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

in her early career.

Publications

Notable scientific publications include: * Reeves, Katharine K.; Golub, Leon (2011-01-01).
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly Observations of Hot Flare Plasma
. ''The Astrophysical Journal Letters'' 727 (2): L52. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/727/2/L52.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

2041-8205. * Reeves, Katharine K.; Linker, Jon A.; Mikić, Zoran; Forbes, Terry G. (2010-01-01).
Current Sheet Energetics, Flare Emissions, and Energy Partition in a Simulated Solar Eruption
. ''The Astrophysical Journal'' 721(2): 1547. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/721/2/1547.

0004-637X. * Reeves, Katharine K.; Moats, Stephanie J. (2010-01-01).
Relating Coronal Mass Ejection Kinematics and Thermal Energy Release to Flare Emissions using a Model of Solar Eruptions
. ''The Astrophysical Journal'' 712(1): 429. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/712/1/429.

0004-637X. * Reeves, K. K.; Guild, T. B.; Hughes, W. J.; Korreck, K. E.; Lin, J.; Raymond, J.; Savage, S.; Schwadron, N. A.; Spence, H. E. (2008-09-01)
Posteruptive phenomena in coronal mass ejections and substorms: Indicators of a universal process?
. ''Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics'' 113 (A9): A00B02. doi:10.1029/2008JA013049.

2156-2202. * Reeves, Seaton & Forbes,
Field Line Shrinkage in Flares Observed by the X-Ray Telescope on Hinode
" ApJ, 675, 2008. * Reeves, Warren & Forbes,
Theoretical Predictions of X-Ray and Extreme-UV Flare Emissions Using a Loss-of-Equilibrium Model of Solar Eruptions
" ApJ, 668, 2007.

References

Reed College alumni American women astronomers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Northeastern University alumni University of New Hampshire alumni Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics people 21st-century American astronomers 21st-century American women scientists {{US-astronomer-stub