Dr. Krista Hook

Dr. Hook teaches General Physics, AP Physics 1, Solar System Astronomy, and Galactic Astronomy classes at the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. She received her B.S. degree in 2010 from Ball State University in Physics with minors in Astronomy and Geology. She completed her M.S. degree, also at Ball State University, in 2017 in Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics. Her master’s thesis focused on the use of an Echelle spectrograph, describing and conducting data analysis on the accretion disc of the binary star system X Persei. Prior to arriving at the Indiana Academy in the Fall of 2022, she taught physics classes at Ball State University and Purdue University in the capacity of a teaching assistant for almost all of the years she was a graduate student at those universities.

Recently, in the summer of 2023, she completed her Ph.D. degree in Curriculum and Instruction: Physics Education from Purdue University. Her dissertation concerned the post-secondary realm of educators and their beliefs about teaching problem-solving which revealed a caring and student-centered perception of education.

Dr. Hook has been published several times throughout her career thus far, aside from her thesis and dissertation, including in journals such as Planetary and Space Science Journal, the Journal of the Southern Association for Research in Astronomy, and paper sessions of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She has also attended and presented at several conferences. She has presented research at the 39th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in 2007 and participated in poster sessions of her research at the American Astronomical Society (AAS): Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting in 2008 and the American Astronomical Society / American Association of Physics Teachers Joint Meeting in 2006. She also regularly attends the Hoosier Association for Science Teachers Conference.

In her free time, Dr. Hook enjoys spending time with her husband, fur-children (4 dogs and 1 cat), and her mom who now lives with her due to health. She enjoys reading/watching mystery, science fiction, and fantasy genre content and hopes to someday contribute to the art with her own books someday. She also likes to paint, solve mystery case games (such as her Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective – The Thames Murders & Other Cases Board Game), and game on her play station (her favorite being the entire Assassin’s Creed Series, first to latest).