About Me

My research centers on connecting the composition of stars to the formation of the Milky Way galaxy (Galactic Archaeology), element nucleosynthesis, and characterizing exoplanet compositions using host star chemical abundances.

I enjoy observational astronomy and extensively utilize telescope observations in my work. I have led multiple observing programs as the principle investigator using the NASA IRTF telescope, APO 3.5m telescope, Gemini South/North, Hobby-Eberly Telescope, and McDonald 2.7m Telescope.

One of my responsibilities at IU has been teaching and I have been an instructor of record for multiple introductory astronomy courses. Each class I develop embodies my teaching philosophy: students from all backgrounds will be able to see themselves as scientists while in my courses and beyond.

• Exploring the History of Stellar Mergers with Chemistry: Examining the Origins of Massive Alpha-Enriched Stars using Carbon Isotope Ratios

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• The Galactic Distribution of Phosphorus: A Survey of 163 Disk and Halo Stars

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• The Galactic Chemical Evolution of Chlorine

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• Phosphorus Abundances in the Hyades and Galactic Disk

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• Carbon Isotope Ratios in M10

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• Bibliography

  ADS Link

• Chemically Characterizing Planet Building Block Elements in M-dwarf Stars

  April 2025, Kentucky Area Astronomical Society Meeting

• Stellar Oddities: MOOG Derived M-Star Parameters and Abundances

  June, 2023, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts

• The Galactic Chemical Evolution of Phosphorus: A Survey of 163 Stars with the Habitable-zone Planet Finder Instrument

  June 2022, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts

Instructor of Record as Visiting Assistant Professor

Indiana University: Fall 2022 - Spring 2025

Developed and taught introductory astronomy courses in person and online. Enrollment varied from 150 - 180 students for courses such as A100: The Solar System and A103: Search for Life in the Universe.

Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program: Astronomy Faculty

Summer 2020

Graduate Instructor of Record for A107: Art of Astronomy

Indiana University: May - June 2017

I co-taught introductory astronomy class with an enrolment of 45 students as instructor of record. Course title was A107: The Art of Astronomy and we instructed on the science behind popular astronomical images. We developed activities for the online class including labs with Adobe Photoshop and Stellarium software, wrote quizzes, and created the syllabus.

Associate Instructor

Indiana University: Various Semesters

Developed online course activities and materials, guest lectured, led discussion sections of 10-20 students, set-up and led student rooftop observing sessions and solar labs.

• zmaas [at] iu.edu
• Astronomy Department, Swain West \ 727 East 3rd Street \ Bloomington IN, 47405