What is your position or role in the DESI project?
I am a PhD candidate at the University of Utah primarily involved with Lyman-alpha forest cosmology studies.
Where were you born? Where do you live now?
I am from Omaha, Nebraska, and I now live in Salt Lake City, Utah. SLC is easily the most incredible and beautiful place I have ever lived!
What do you do as part of DESI?
I work on developing spectroscopic models for the quasars observed by DESI. These models will help us maximize the cosmological information we can extract from the quasar sample.
What is the most interesting or exciting thing about your job?
The potential for DESI to discover things that no one was expecting or looking for.
Any advice for an aspiring scientist?
In the words of Alie Ward: “ask smart people stupid questions”. Because in reality, there are no stupid questions. Never let anyone discourage your curiosity.<
What do you do for fun?
I try to spend as much time as I can outdoors: hiking, long camping trips, skiing, roller skating, and any sort of wildlife watching. I also love communicating science to the public. I host Astronomy on Tap in Salt Lake City, am a science communicator with the Natural History Museum of Utah, and volunteer at the local zoo. Finally, I have 3 perfect cats who command the remainder of my time.
If you weren’t a scientist, what would be your dream job?
A wildlife or park ranger… maybe in Alaska 🙂
