Outreach & Teaching
The professional activity that brings me the most joy is mentoring and advising students on various research projects related to astronomy and astrophysics. I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by colleagues and administrative staff that have enabled me to find exceptional students who are passionate about
developing their research skills through undergraduate research programs or summer internships. I've also started to get more involved in formal teaching, having recently taught an undergraduate astrophysics course and guest lectured in astronomy and physics courses the past few years. I enjoy learning and developing my own
pedagogy and seeing my teaching strategies evolve based on students' desires and needs.
I've had the privilege of participating in many scientific outreach opportunities in recent years. For several semesters I proctored the George Mason University Observatory public
observing nights. These events are open to the public and are geared toward broadening understanding of our solar system and the universe as a whole. While working
there, I was incredibly lucky to interact with many different families and help spread the amazing work that the observatory does for the local community. I've also given general science talks
under the observatory "Evening Under the Stars" series.
Congressional Visits
Living in Washington DC for most of my life has shown me how quickly and easily science can become politicized, and we as scientists have the perpetual job of ensuring that scientific facts aren't replaced by mistruths and other anti-science rhetoric. There are two memorable congressional events I experienced that had quite a large impact on me. The first was a science advocacy event on Capitol Hill co-hosted by Bill Nye. Mr. Nye sat with several members of congress and urged our political leaders to consider stronger investments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforces. A cornerstone of the meeting was working to broaden participation in STEM fields from women and other underrepresented minorities. The importance of recruiting minority groups in STEM fields cannot be understated, but also retaining a strong diverse workforce is equally, if not more, important. I truly believe Mr. Nye and the organization he leads, The Planetary Society, have made a substantial impact in terms of broadening inclusivity and participation by underserved groups, and this meeting strongly emphasized those beliefs. As a bonus, there was a lively discussion about a space probe mission that would study Jupiter's moon Europa, and how important a mission like this would be for understanding this unique moon and any conditions there that may be suitable for life. Less than a year later, congress formally approved funding for the "Europa Clipper" mission!
Another memorable visit was one I participated in as a representative for junior scientists during NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Administrator's Congressional Visit Day. I joined the Goddard administrator in visiting my local congressional representative on Capitol Hill where we discussed some of the ground-laying work we are conducting in preparation for the Roman Space Telescope mission (formerly called WFIRST). As I've stated earlier in this section it is imperative that we as scientist continue to advocate for these missions that will inspire the next generation of scientists. As an early graduate student at the time, I felt great pride in representing early-career researchers who will be the primary users of such future observatories when they are in operation later this decade and beyond.
AstroTech
More recently I have been involved in co-organizing and co-instructing the AstroTech Summer School. AstroTech is an annual one-week long program focused on astronomical instrumentation. Undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in a career in instrumentation join together at UC Berkeley to work in team-building environments to design and build scaled versions of astronomical instruments. The participants get hands-on experience with optical instruments in a lab-setting, as well as networking sessions with other participants and instrumentation leaders in academia, industry, and government.
I am most proud of being a member of the AstroTech team because of the program's foundational goal of increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion. The most recent cohort comprised 83% women and/or underrepresented minorities! The success of AstroTech can be seen through the large fraction of participants who persist in instrumentation and related STEM fields long after the summer school has ended. It is very rewarding to see the great progress and meaningful impacts that past students are making as a result of participating at AstroTech.