Matthew Templeton

AAVSO Science Director

Matthew is the Science Director of the AAVSO, working to expand and maintain the integrity of the AAVSO International Database, and to serve as liason between the AAVSO community and the broader astronomical research community. Aside from his managerial duties, he works on independent projects utilizing the millions of observations submitted to the AAVSO archives over the past century. He is also the AAVSO's Observing Campaign Coordinator, High Energy Network Coordinator, Photoelectric Photometry Program Coordinator, and the Assistant Editor and Editorial Board member of the Journal of the AAVSO, among several other duties.

He completed his Bachelor's Degree in Physics at the University of Delaware in 1994, and attained his Doctorate in Astronomy with a Minor in Mathematics at New Mexico State University in June of 2000. During his graduate studies, he was a Graduate Research Associate in the Applied Physics (X-) Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Prior to coming to the AAVSO, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Scientist in the Astronomy Department at Yale University working on topics in theoretical asteroseismology and stellar modeling.

A list of Matthew's first-authored, refereed scientific papers may be found here. A longer but incomplete list of all publications (including non-first authored and non-refereed) may be found here.

Variable Star of the Season articles:

"I am a closet writer. Research is always my primary interest, but I also enjoy writing about science. The AAVSO's Variable Star of the Season series is a fun way to write about variable stars, and share not just the science but the history as well. And as I've found, they're also a great way to learn about these objects -- the two best ways to learn about something are to either do something yourself, or teach others about it! I hope the AAVSO's Variable Stars of the Season are as educational for you as they are for me!"

• Miras with period changes (April 2011)
• RS Puppis (January 2011)
• RR Lyrae (September 2010)
• P Cygni (September 2009)
• The Recurrent Nova U Scorpii (July 2009)
• RV Tauri (January 2009)
• FG Sagittae (June 2008)
• Epsilon Aurigae (January 2008)
• RX Andromedae (October 2007)
• RU Virginis (April 2007)
• V4641 Sgr (July 2006)
• The Quasar 3C 273 (April 2005)
• Delta Scuti stars (July 2004)
• UV Ceti and the Flare Stars (October 2003)