Megan Masterson

Megan is a graduate student working with Prof. Erin Kara to study how supermassive black holes grow and affect their surroundings. Her primary research interests are in the field of nuclear transients, namely trying to understand the rapid accretion state changes in both Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) and changing-look AGN. She’s an observer at heart and works with a variety of telescopes, from infrared to X-ray wavelengths, to study the multi-wavelength evolution of these transients during their outbursts.

Prior to coming to MIT, Megan graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 2019 with a BS in astronomy and a BS in math and physics. In 2020, she obtained a masters degree in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, where she worked with Prof. Chris Reynolds on high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of nearby AGN. When she’s not studying black holes, you can probably find her doing astronomy outreach, hiking in New Hampshire, or watching women’s soccer.