Meet the DAWN-IRES Scholars: Zoe Kearney

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Tell me a little about yourself.

I am soon to be first year masters student at McGill working with Prof Tracy Webb and I recently finished my undergraduate degree in Astronomy and Physics at UMass Amherst in May 2020 working with Prof. Alex Pope. In this last year, I took a gap year to work at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on atmospheric physics and remote sensors.

I am originally from Colorado, so I love to do a lot of outdoor activities (hiking, skiing, camping). I also like to run and I have gotten into yoga in the last year. I’ve been trying to learn caligraphy recently too, so that has been fun. Otherwise, I’m a huge extrovert so I love spending time with my friends.

How did you get interested in astronomy?

I didn’t have a eureka moment, it was just a gradual interest that built in me. Starting in eighth grade I would tell people I wanted to become an astonomer, probably before I even know what it really meant. I had a lot of diverse interests, poetry, art, math, and science, and astronomy felt like a nice intersection of these things. I decided to guide my college search based on astronomy programs, which is what led me to UMass Amherst. As soon as I started taking physics classes I also realized right away that I loved physics probably more than anything else and that was a really cool bonus to astronomy.

What is your favorite part about DAWN?

I really like the community at DAWN. It seems like everyone is really interested not only in each others science but also their lives. It is pretty easy to spot a collaboration that is non-toxic and I definitely see that in DAWN. It is so nice to work in an environment like that. Even though we aren’t in person, I really love who I've been working with; everyone has been very encouraging and I feel like I'm making new strides in my research and thinking processes and I think that's definitely a byproduct of how I've been treated and talked to.

What motivated you to apply to an international REU?

I spent 6 months in Heidelberg Germany as an undergrad through a study abroad program. Ever since I came home from that program, I’ve wanted to go back to Europe. So this seemed like a great opportunity. It also felt like a really nice nugget of research I could do between school and jobs. When I was in Germany, I got to experience doing research at the Max Planck Institute which showed me the importance of working with people from all around the world. Such networks are advantageous in terms of research, building connections, and creating opportunities.

How has the pandemic impacted your life?

I got sick with COVID at the beginning of the pandemic which was a very traumatic experience overall. It was really scary to have the symptoms pop up and for nobody really to understand what was going on. It threw my whole body out of whack and it made it difficult to finish up my senior year and honors thesis while dealing with that. I had to readjust how I did work and was forced to listen to my body, which was something new for me. Unfortunately I am still struggling with my health issues, so it has been a long year and a half. It has been a bit of a wakeup call for how I treat my body in terms of how much sleep I get, how I eat, and how I take care of myself. It has also been eye opening to see how broken our healthcare system is. This combined with the isolation has been pretty difficult. But I am lucky to have a strong support system; I don’t think I would’ve made it through this year without that.

If you could have any superpower what would it be?

Definitely flying, because I love to travel and I tend to feel stuck in a rut if I’ve been in one place for too long. Flying would definitely help with that and let me explore the world.

Tell me about your summer research project.

I’m working with Thomas Greve and we are exploring the high oxygen and carbon line ratios ([OIII]/[CII]) in high redshift galaxies. It has been found that these ratios are unusually high in the earliest galaxies relative to later cosmic times. We are comparing observations to simulations from SIGAME as well as analytical simulations to see if they agree. We are also exploring some of the physics that can explain these high ratios using CLOUDY radiative transfer modeling.

Where is the first place you want to visit when we finally get you to Copenhagen?

I don’t have a definite answer but I am excited to bike around and to see the architecture and go out for a beer.