Matt A Wood

Matt A. Wood graduated with a B.S. degree in Physics from Iowa State University, and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. He spent a year as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Université de Montreal in Quebec before accepting a position as assistant professor at The Florida Institute of Technology. He spent the 2008-2009 academic year on sabbatical at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where he was first introduced to the Python programming language. In 2012 he joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at East Texas A&M University-Commerce as Department Head and Professor. In 2017, he was asked to serve as the Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, but in short order realized teaching and research was much more fulfilling than administration, and returned to the research/teaching faculty in 2019. In 2021, he was named Regents Professor of Physics and Astronomy by the Texas A&M University System. His current research focuses on mass-transfer binary star systems known as cataclysmic variables, and the evolution of white dwarf stars as a means to probe the age and star formation history of the Galaxy. He has been an author on more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, and a similar number of non-refereed publications. In his spare time he enjoys walking his golden retriever ("Poppy"), playing bass and guitar, woodworking, and the occasional video game.