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Astronomy major (Astrophysics option)- Graduated 2015

Associate Scientist

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

Ãå±±½ûµØ, CO

Describe your career path since graduating

Initially, I wanted to take a break from school and gain some real world experience before continuing on to pursue a PhD. Right after graduating, I moved to Baltimore, MD to work at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). My first job was on the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope. My work focused mainly on the CCD, calibrating data, producing dark and bias frames, building, testing, and maintaining various pipelines, answering help calls from the astronomy community, writing documentation, presenting my projects at conferences, and contributing to a wide variety of science projects. Bonus: I went to Johnson Space Center in Houston to assist with testing the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was a pretty cool project and a departure from my normal tasks (this was also during Hurricane Harvey and we ended up having a sleepover at NASA JSC!). I ended up really enjoying the diversity in my projects at work and decided to continue working, gaining experience that way, rather than pursuing a PhD.

After a while, I decided that I wanted something new and something that I felt had an impact on people. My new job search started at the beginning of 2020 (perfect timing, right?). Eventually, I found an exciting job back in Ãå±±½ûµØ at CIRES, and moved back in the middle of January. Currently, my job is on the Space Weather team, working with instruments on the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites).

How did your time in APS prepare you for your current career (or life) - if at all?

Obviously, I have stayed in the astronomy field, so the foundation for everything I know and use now in my career is from my time in the APS department. In fact, at the end of my interview with STScI all those years ago, the hiring manager commented that they had interviewed and hired quite a few Ãå±±½ûµØ APS students and that the APS department prepares students very well for jobs like that! Because a good portion of my job is instrumentation and coding, the programming and observations classes were extremely helpful for me. The research opportunities I had with various professors were also incredibly invaluable!

Okay, I have a few pieces of advice

1. Don’t be afraid to talk to your professors. They are a huge resource for finding research opportunities, helping out if you’re having trouble understanding something from class, and giving career and life advice. I still remember Dr. Darling, in addition to advising my honors thesis, telling me to negotiate my salary and giving me advice about retirement plans!
2. A PhD is NOT your only option. Going through school, My impression was that the only path forward for someone with an astronomy/astrophysics degree was to get a PhD. During my senior year at CU, I felt so burnt out and felt like I let myself and my professors down because I didn’t want to go to graduate school right away. The job search felt daunting because I didn’t think I’d be able to get a good job with just a bachelor’s degree. After getting my first job out of college (and now my current one), I know that there are lots of interesting and exciting careers for people without a PhD in astronomy/astrophysics. And, even if you do end up wanting to get your doctorate, it’s okay to take some time off from school if you need to.

What was your most memorable moment as an astronomy major?

I think my most memorable moment as an astronomy major was when I went to the Apache Point Observatory with my Observations and Instrumentation class. I just remember walking outside at night and it was perfectly clear and completely dark. The sheer amount of stars was overwhelming. Constellations that I knew like the back of my hand had just disappeared in between all the other stars I’d never seen before.

Any other comments?

I’m always happy to talk about school, career, etc with anyone who is interested. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

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Maya YanezÌý

Astronomy- Graduated 2019

Ph.D. student in Geobiology at USC

Describe your career path since graduating

I want to talk about my senior year briefly first. My mental health had tanked quite a bit, and I felt burnt out. I went from having a list of 12 grad schools to apply, to 4. I decided I was much happier taking a gap year, but that I had done a lot of work to be prepared to apply that cycle. So I did. A series of rejections followed. I reached out to the last prospective advisor and they basically told me no. So I got hired in a microbiology lab on campus with plans to work at least a year while I reapplied in the next cycle.

Within two weeks, that last advisor reached out to me with an offer. But not just any offer, an offer to do my PhD with him at USC and with my previous mentor at NASA JPL. I decided that this was a rare opportunity: not only could I go to graduate school, but I would get to do it with my previous mentor as my co-advisor AND design my own independent project for my thesis. My research focuses on the habitability of Saturn's moon Titan for acetylenotrophs (microorganisms that eat acetylene). I am approaching it from the lenses of three different fields: 1) Culturing microbes in Titan analogue conditions 2) Modeling of predicated organism growth and reaction energetics of the environment and 3) Determining likely locations on Titan's surface where evidence of life may be found by Dragonfly. Graduate school is hard, but I LOVE my project. It's even sweeter that it's my idea.

While I am pursuing research and graduate school, it is imperative to maintain commitments to my community. I was recently selected across all departments to receive the 2021 USC Provost's Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award based on my teaching performance across three semesters. I was elected to be the first ever AAS Division of Planetary Sciences Student Representative to advocate for students within DPS. I am also the chair of the Department Culture & Climate committee to improve our climate and to retain underrepresented students.

How did your time in APS prepare you for your current career (or life) - if at all?

APS will always hold a special place in my heart. I struggled to pass Introductory Physics at CU; third time is the charm. Despite struggling that much, I had been able to take the 1030/1040 sequence, and asked Dave Brain to be my faculty mentor. He helped me understand what I needed to do to be qualified to go to graduate school (the whole General Astronomy vs. Astrophysics debate!). It was a difficult decision: not be prepared for grad school and graduate early, or be prepared for grad school, graduate late, and have more debt. I eventually made the decision to do General Astronomy but to keep taking classes that interested me on the Astrophysics track.

My Teaching Assistant from 1030, (now Dr.) Bryan Holler, offered a research opportunity to our class. I took him up on it. This project eventually became my honors thesis that I successfully defended. Bryan giving me that opportunity was life-changing. It helped kickstart a series of events that led me to two consecutive NASA JPL internships. So APS gave me the boost to launch my career.

Because of Bryan, I got to utilize Apache Point Observatory! Honestly, that is one of the most amazing benefits of being a student in APS. You get FREE observing time on an amazing suite of telescopes. You gain practice in writing proposals, preparing ephemerides and other observing materials, and you get to slew a 3.5m telescope, sometimes onsite at APO. An amazing experience!

The upper division planetary science courses (not 3710, but 3720/3750) were SO HELPFUL. We covered such a wide breadth of knowledge about surfaces and atmospheres that I feel skilled enough to at least approach any question I'm curious about. It may not be the most accurate, but I can certainly perform a Back of the Envelope calculation for most questions! Also, the Astronomy Help Room is such a unique resource in our department. I find that it is rather uncommon to have a team of TAs/graduate students that help with math, physics, and astronomy as their office hours. Use it!

Talking with graduate students were some of the most rewarding, helpful, and inspiring interactions for me and my career. I was lucky enough to work in the front office of the APS department for three out of my five years at CU. This meant I had facetime with nearly all the faculty and graduate students, and it demystified the intimidating university structure. That professional experience shaped how I approach initiatives within a university and helped me secure funding for URSA which I founded before graduating. Also in general, having to work 25-30 hours a week as an undergrad prepared me for the time management of grad school. I was also an LA and a grader which prepared me for being a TA, especially because you don't often receive TA training in grad school.

In general, the people I had supporting me in APS were what prepared me most. The APS curriculum is challenging; not everyone chooses to continue it for a reason. But with my friends, mentors, APS staff (Hi Jose and Troy!), and graduate students, I felt supported and empowered to continue. They truly helped me believe in myself.

What advice would you give to current APS undergraduate majors?

Talk to everyone! Seriously, I got some of my most impactful opportunities by simply talking to others (and being patient enough....I once waited 90 minutes to talk to a NASA mission project scientist at a conference. He ended up funding my second summer internship at JPL). If you have a question, ask it; if you have an opinion, respectfully share it; if you need help, talk to others! Find a study group. I hated being told that as an undergrad because it felt so awkward. So I'll say it differently: Find someone in your class who you get along with and are willing to spend a myriad of stressful hours with, then plan to do the homeworks together. It's much better if you and that person can make each other laugh. Also if you see one of your peers really succeeding, don't be afraid to talk to them! Most of our majors were very kind and always willing to help each other out or explain how they approached a homework problem.

Talk to the graduate students! APS graduate students are some of the hardest working and smartest people I have ever met. Everyone from 1st to 7th years has some advice or tips to offer. Ask your TAs about their research. Ask them for help and advice, especially as you get closer to applying for graduate school.

Take it slow. I took five years to graduate. It was worth it! My last two years were balanced with half upper division physics and astro, and half fun classes. I had time to do research and many other extracurriculars without feeling drained. Consider taking a gap year between undergrad and grad school; MANY do and it often helps them prepare for entering graduate school. As an example, I am the only one in my lab that came straight from undergrad.

Attend conferences! Especially with so many virtual conferences recently, and the prospect of more in the future, consider attending professional society meetings even if you don't have results to present. Learning about how science is conducted at other institutions may motivate you to take classes in other departments, and perhaps you'll find the research you want to pursue along the way!

Take care of yourself. Everyone I knew in APS had bad days. Many of us had poor mental health at some point or another. It's important to take time when that happens, that is just about taking care of you. I am saying this as someone who constantl