EDUCATION

• PhD, Astronomy & Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz, anticipated: 2011
• MS, Astronomy & Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz, 2007
• Graduate Study, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State University, 2004-2005
• BS, Physics, Minors in Astronomy and Political Science, MIT, 2004

AWARDS

• AAS Beth Brown Memorial Prize (for best astronomy poster at NSBP/NSHP annual meeting), 2009
• Whitford Prize (for outstanding second-year graduate student), UCSC Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2007
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2006-2009
• Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, University of California, 2005-2006
• Braddock-Roberts Fellowship, Eberly College of Science, PSU, 2004-2005
• Bunton-Waller Fellowship, PSU, 2004-2005
• Zaccheus Daniel Trust Award, PSU Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2004-2005
• NASA Harriet Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship, 2004
• Alan H. Barrett Prize for Excellence in Astrophysics at MIT (for best astrophysics thesis), 2004
• Joel Matthew Orloff Award for Outstanding Service in Physics at MIT, 2004
• American Physical Society Corporate Minority Scholar, 2001 & 2002

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

• Lopez, L. A., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., Badenes, C., Huppenkothen, D., Jeltema, T. E., Pooley, D. A. "Typing Supernova Remnants Using X-ray Line Emission Morphologies", 2009, ApJL, 706, L106 ADS
• Lopez, L. A., Ramirez-Ruiz, E., Pooley, D. A., Jeltema, T. E. "Tools to Dissect Supernova Remnants Observed with Chandra: Methods and Application to the Galactic Remnant W49B", 2009, ApJ, 691, 875: ADS
• Prochaska, J. X., Sheffer, Y., Perley, D. A., Bloom, D. S., Lopez, L. A., Dessauges-Zavadsky, M., Chen, H.-W., Filippenko, A. V., Ganeshalingam, M., Li, W., Miller, A. A., Starr, D., "The First Positive Detection of Molecular Gas in a GRB Host Galaxy", 2009, ApJL, 691, L27: ADS
• Lopez, L. A., Marshall, H. L., Canizares, C. R., Schulz, N. S., Kane, J. F. "Determining the Nature of the SS 433 Binary from an X-ray Spectrum During Eclipse", 2006, ApJ, 650, 338: ADS
• Lopez, L. A., Brandt, W. N., Vignali, C., Schneider, D. P., Chartas, G., Garmire, G. "A Chandra Snapshot Survey of Representative High-Redshift Radio-Loud Quasars from the PMN Sample", 2006, AJ, 131, 1914: ADS

APPROVED OBSERVING PROGRAMS

• PI, Chandra archival proposal ($54,000), Cycle 11, 2009
  Title: "Dissecting Supernova Remnants Observed with Chandra"
• Co-I, 30 ks, Chandra ACIS-S, Cycle 11 GO Time (PI: Leo Blitz, observer: Katherine Alatalo), 2009
  Title: "NGC 1266: Local Candidate for AGN Feedback"
• Co-I, 60 ks, Chandra ACIS-S, Cycle 10 GO Time (PI: Niel Brandt), 2008
  Title: "Identifying High-z X-ray Jets from Radio-Loud Quasars with Chandra"
• PI, 15 hours, NRAO VLA, A-Configuration, 2007
  Title: "A Search for Extended Radio Jets in Six z>4 Quasars Imaged with Chandra"
• Co-I, 200 ks, Chandra HETGS, Cycle 06 GTO Time (PI: Claude Canizares), 2004
  Title: "Detailed Studies of the Jets in SS 433"
• PI, 1 hour, Magellan Telescope MIKE, 2004B Time
  Title: "Resolving the Nature of the Thick Disk and Companion in SS 433"
• Co-I, 130 ks, XMM-Newton EPIC, A04 Time (PI: Niel Brandt)
  Title: "Defining the X-ray Properties of the Most Distant Radio-Loud Quasars with XMM"

SERVICE/LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

• Appointed Member, AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy, 2009-2012
• Elected head of UCSC Astronomy & Astrophysics graduate students, 2009-2010
• Editor, AAS CSMA Bi-Annual Newsletter SPECTRUM, 2008-Present
• Member, MIT Educational Council, 2007-2009
• Co-Editor, AAS CSMA Newsletter SPECTRUM, 2003-2008
• Researcher, National Survey on Astronomy Faculty Diversity (with Prof. Donna J. Nelson), 2004
• President-Elect & Founder, MIT Undergraduate Women in Physics Group, 2003-2004
• Organizer & Founder, MIT Graduate-Undergraduate Women Mentor Lunch Program, 2003-2004

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Instructor, Introductory Astronomy, Hartnell Community College, Salinas, CA, 2007
• Teaching Assistant, Overview of the Universe (AY 2), UCSC, 2006
• Grader, Advanced Electromagnetism (8.022), MIT, 2003
• Grader, Wave Mechanics (8.03), MIT, 2002
• Teaching Assistant/Tutor, Classical Mechanics (8.01L), MIT, 2001

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• Chandra Supernova Remnant Symposium, Cambridge, MA 2009
• PANDA Symposium: Products of Astrophysical Outflows, Lijiang, China, 2009
• 213th AAS Meeting, Long Beach, CA 2009
• Sixth GRB Symposium, Huntsville, AL, 2008
• Tenth AAS HEAD Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, 2008
• Niels Bohr Institute DARK Cosmology Centre Summer Workshop, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007
• Swift and GRBs: Unveiling the Relativistic Universe, Venice, Italy, 2006
• The X-ray Universe, El Escorial, Spain, 2005
• Eighth AAS HEAD Meeting, New Orleans, LA 2004
• 203rd AAS Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2004
• 202nd AAS Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2003