Who I am
For the past
three years I have been working as a solar physicist on the team
of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). I work with
two of the instruments in particular, the Coronal Diagnostic Spectromer
and the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation. I
help to operate them, deciding when they should observe what and
coordinating with people working with other instruments, spacecraft,
and observatories so that we can observe the same things at once
in many different ways. I analyze the data we get back, studying
different features in the Sun's atmosphere (like prominences and
active regions). I work with the data so that I can compare it
to the predictions of different models of how the Sun works. I
also work with teachers who are figuring out how to use our data
and information in their classrooms.
My
education
I am from
Evanston, IL, a suburb of Chicago. I'm the oldest of three daughters.
I started getting interested in astronomy when I was in grade
school (before that I wanted to study dinosaurs), but I didn't
really think of it very seriously as a career because (1) I was
told you had to be good at math – which I thought meant (yawn)
arithmetic and (2) I heard it was very hard to get a job as an
astronomer. Still, though, I made a point of taking astronomy
in high school, and I was in a high school astronomy club. I took
all the standard college prep classes, including math and science.
When I started
college (at Carlton College, in Minnesota) I didn't know what
I wanted to do, although I think most of the people who knew me
figured I'd go into science. I did very well in my first physics
class (a feat never to be repeated) and enjoyed it. I kept taking
physics and ended up majoring in it.
I still was
not sure what I wanted to do, but I thought as long as I was considering
going to graduate school, I'd go ahead. I entered the U. of Colorado
Department of Astrophysical, Planetary, and Atmospheric Sciences
because I figured I was interested in all those things and couldn't
go too far wrong.
I started
out taking atmospheric science classes, but then I heard from
another graduate student that there was a professor looking for
a student to work with radio data from the Sun. That sounded interesting
– I wanted to work with data, and the Sun seemed to combine
my interests in both astronomy and the Earth. I did my thesis
work studying solar flares.
When I was
finishing up graduate school I started asking around about jobs.
Someone I'd worked with told me that her group at NASA/Goddard
was looking for a young scientist for a two-year position, and
I got the job. When that job ended, I went to the scientist in
charge of SOHO at Goddard to ask if they had job openings and
here I am!
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