Can you tell me a little about yourself?
My name Julia and I study physics at Texas A&M, currently in my junior year. I grew up in Flowermound, Texas, a large suburban area with lots of big high schools. I grew up taking ballet and that is actually how I met my current research advisor at A&M, Dr Vy Tran. I’m even taking dance classes while I am in here in Copenhagen!
How did you get interested in astronomy?
I really like physics and statistics and I’ve always loved space. I happened to do astronomy research with Dr. Tran and it was great to work with big data. I love how it combines physics, space and statistics together.
What is your favorite part about Copenhagen? Dawn?
The city is beautiful, I love it here. It is a chance to live abroad and get out of my comfort zone. It has been a great experience, there are always things to do and I’ve always dreamed to live in a European city that is rich with history and unique architecture. All of the faculty at DAWN have been great and the office is really nice as well. The free coffee is a great perk! And all of the cake! There are a lot of great opportunities here, like joining talks and lots of open communication. DAWN has a small atmosphere that isn’t too overwhelming. Oh, and the research we get to do is pretty cool too.
What motivated you to apply to an international REU?
I’ve always wanted a chance to go abroad. Normally the physics degree requirements are so intensive that you don’t have the opportunity to take time off to study abroad. This was a good loop hole.
Can you tell me about your summer research project?
I’m working with a PhD candidate, John Weaver, and Dr. Brammer to find extreme high redshift galaxies using the 3D-HST survey with the Hubble Space Telescope. We are analyzing a new method of detecting ultra-faint emission lines to push the data where it has never gone before.
What skills and knowledge would you like to acquire this summer?
My coding is becoming more efficient, which was one of my goals to get a better grasp on working with large catalogs of data. Because I haven’t taken a lot of astronomy courses yet, this gives me the opportunity to dive into more of the details on topics I haven’t yet seen in class. Doing research overall will better prepare me for life in the scientific field.
If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Teleportation. I want to be able to pop anywhere at any time. Riding a bike here is a struggle for me… wouldn’t it be nice to just teleport from our home to DAWN?