Biography

In Fall 2016, I returned to my alma mater as a faculty member in the Astronomy Department at UC Berkeley. Previously, I was a Hubble Fellow at the University of Washington. I spent the first year of my Hubble Fellowship (2013-2014) at UC Santa Cruz working with Charlie Conroy before moving back to Washington for the remaining two years of my fellowship (2014-2016). Prior to being awarded a Hubble Fellowship, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington working with Julianne Dalcanton on the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) program, one of the largest Hubble Space Telescope (HST) programs in history.

In 2010, I received a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Minnesota, where I worked under the guidance of Evan Skillman. My thesis work used HST to trace patterns of star formation in dozens of nearby dwarf galaxies back in time to their formation in the early Universe. Prior to my PhD, I was an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, where I received a double degree in Physics and Astrophysics in 2004. I am a proud product of public schools from elementary school through my PhD. In 2000, I graduated from Minneapolis Southwest High School with an International Baccalaureate Diploma. For middle school, I attended the pre-IB program at Anwatin Middle School. I was fortunate to have attended an outstanding and very unusual elementary school: Dowling Urban Environmental Learning Center.

Outside of Astronomy

Outside of astronomy, I have spent most of my life around soccer fields. Starting at age 3, I played for various park and club teams around the Twin Cities. In college, I played for the UC Berkeley Men’s Club Team, and later for the University of Minnesota Men’s Club Team, reaching the NIRSA national club tournament with both schools. I also played for several high-level amateur teams, including Blackhawks of the Minnesota Amateur Soccer League and Minnesota NSC United of the semi-professional National Premier Soccer League.

I am also a high-level soccer coach who has worked with very competitive girls’ and women’s teams. I coached club soccer with the Minnesota Thunder Academy (formerly Bangu FC), where I prepared youth players for the transition to the collegiate level. Most players I coached went on to play collegiate soccer, and several players were selected to represent the U.S. at various youth international levels. I also spent a couple of seasons working with the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program, and I hold a National ‘D’ coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation.

In addition to club coaching, I was also an assistant coach at the high school and collegiate levels with women’s teams at the Academy of Holy Angels High School, the University of St. Thomas, and UC Santa Cruz. Highlights from these programs include the success of the St. Thomas teams, which made multiple NCAA national tournament appearances, won a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, and completed an undefeated regular season in 2008.