Biography
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Matthew M. Beaky moved to Massachusetts where he earned is BS in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1989), then to Ohio where he received his PhD in Physics from the Ohio State University (1996). After earning his doctorate, Dr. Beaky traveled to Germany to work as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow at the University of Cologne. From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a National Research Council Research Fellow at Duke University and the Army Research Office in Durham, N.C. He was a member of the Physics Department at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri from 2000 through 2011, where he established the Truman State University Center for Astrobiology, and served as director of the Office of Student Research, and received numerous awards including the Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence in 2011, Sigma Xi (Kirksville Chapter) Researcher of the Year in 2008, and induction into Sigma Xi in 2005.
In 2011, Dr. Beaky returned to Pennsylvania to join the Physics and Engineering Physics Department at Juniata College. At Juniata, he manages the Paul E. Hickes Observatory on campus as well as the remotely-controlled Sparks Farm Robotic Observatory that was constructed in 2017. He created the Secondary Emphasis in Astronomy and developed several new courses to support it, including Observational Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy, and the short-term study abroad course Chile: Southern Stars. He mentors students in research projects studying eclipsing binary stars, asteroids, exoplanets, and all types of variable stars. He has been an actively involved at Juniata College in support of international education, general education, and particularly undergraduate research, having served as Director of Undergraduate Research from 2016 through 2019. He is the faculty advisor to the Women in Physics Club and the Juniata Stargazers Club, and hosts public nights at the Juniata College Observatory.
Dr. Beaky has published his research in a variety of professional journals, including the Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, Minor Planet Bulletin, Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers and the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the Council on Undergraduate Research, the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and the Society for Astronomical Sciences.