Kerri Malatesta Astronomical Technical Assistant
Kerri joined the AAVSO staff in 1996. She holds a BS in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an MS in Physics/Astronomy from Central Michigan University. Kerri first started working with variable stars, particularly CVs, while she was a graduate student. During this time, she was also introduced to the AAVSO through Alert Notices, the JAAVSO, and other AAVSO publications.
Upon completion of graduate school, Kerri returned to her native state of Massachusetts and found work at the AAVSO. Like much of the AAVSO staff, she has worked on many projects including data processing, variable star charts, investigation of suspect variables and suspicious objects, Monographs, and has co-authored several papers with Janet Mattei. Currently she is mainly focused on the Data Validation Project and the occasional Variable Star of the Season.
When not working for the AAVSO, Kerri spends her time with her 1 and 1/2-year-old son, Gavin, husband, Chris, and three cats. She enjoys animals, nature, and being outdoors. Throughout the winter months she can often be found snow shoeing, sledding, making snowmen, and basically playing in the snow, while walking, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking are her favorites during warmer weather. She also never passes up the opportunity to take a long roadtrip in the car and often plans her vacations doing just this. When time allots, she loves to read, do crafts, or tinker on the piano too.
Although she presently doesn't own a telescope or make it out to observe with her binoculars, she hopes to get out under the night skies more often as her son grows so that he too may appreciate all its beauty and wonderment.