Mason V. Tea

Mason is a Systems Engineer at the institute, supporting integration and testing for the WFS&C subsystem for JWST as well as the DMS subsystem for both JWST and Roman.

Before arriving at STScI, Mason recieved his BAs in physics and astronomy from Wesleyan University, with high honors in astronomy. His thesis work, under the guidance of Dr. Roy Kilgard, focused on identifying and characterizing black hole X-ray binaries in nearby galaxies with Chandra. Before that, he worked with Dr. Seth Redfield on simulating data from the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL), a theoretical space telescope which utilizes the Sun as a gravitational lens to directly image exoplanets. While at Wesleyan, he also served as the Student Director of Van Vleck Observatory from 2019-2021.

Mason continues to work on his thesis project (as well as some other gravity-adjacent personal projects) alongside his work at the institute.

Education:

BA in Astronomy, Wesleyan University
BA in Physics, Wesleyan University

Science Interests:

• Compact binaries
• High-energy astrophysics
• Black hole physics
• Gravitational waves
• Gravitational theory
• Cosmology & dark matter

Research Topics:  Star Formation;  Histories, and Evolution; Supernovae and Remnants

Professional Websites:

Personal Website

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9638-8393