Tell me a little about yourself.
I'm a 3rd year Bachelor's student at the University of Michigan studying astronomy, physics, and math. In my free time I like to make music and talk with my friends.
How did you get interested in astronomy?
I got into astronomy in kindergarten when we had a unit on the planets (coincidentally, just a few months before the IAU decided that Pluto was off the list).
What is your favorite part about Copenhagen? DAWN?
If I had to choose, my favorite part about Copenhagen is how easy it is to bike around everywhere. I live in a pretty bike-friendly city by North American standards, but I couldn't imagine doing a 45 minute bike commute there.
Aside from the coffee machine, my favorite part about DAWN is the community. For how impressive the research is at DAWN, everyone is super friendly and there's a strong emphasis on work-life balance.
What motivated you to apply to an international REU?
I've always thought that international collaboration is critical in science, both for its ability to inspire new breakthroughs as well as its power to convince people that other countries/cultures aren't as different or sinister as they might have thought.
Can you tell me about your summer research project? (replace with PhD research for grad students)
I'm using data from the ALMA radio observatory in Chile to constrain various physical characteristics of a very distant galaxy undergoing a period of extremely intense star formation.
What skills and knowledge would you like to acquire this summer?
This summer I'm excited to have a long stretch of time dedicated solely to research to help me decide if I want to continue in research, and the kind(s) of research I enjoy doing.
If you could have any superpower what would it be?
It would be pretty nice to not have to sleep. Eight extra hours of consciousness every day would be super helpful.