Mentoring and Outreach
I am deeply passionate about mentorship, outreach, and education with all backgrounds and age groups. One of my primary goals is to help astronomy as equitable and inclusive as it can be, and to use astronomy to reach our surrounding communities. Here you can find a small selection of my outreach and mentoring efforts.
Preparing the Emerging Next Generation Using Inclusive Networking (PENGUIN)
All too often, early career astronomers become insulated by their advisors and home institutions with no broader network. Personally, I have been lucky to have had access to large collaborations throughout my academic career, allowing me to have a standing network of mentors far beyond my advisor and home institution. The need for a cross-institutional mentoring program arose from the simple premise that every early career scientist should have the same access to the broader community.
PENGUIN supports early career astronomers by using evidence-based mentorship to expand their networks across institutions. PENGUIN utilizes a combination of inclusive mentorship practices: one-step-ahead mentoring along with traditional senior-junior mentoring. We are currently represented at over a dozen institutions across the United States with more participants every year.
Interested in getting involved? Check out the PENGUIN website below.
Mentoring and Advising Graduates in an Inclusive Community (MAGIC)
For many, the transition into graduate school life is difficult time. Unfortunately, this is even more true for students who come from marginalized groups in society. In MAGIC, Texas A&M Astronomy's student-led peer mentoring program, our goal is to support, educate, and empower new graduate students to make graduate school not only bearable, but enjoyable. As coordinator of the MAGIC program, I worked to provide new students with a network of mentors to share experiences and build the department community, while introducing new students to grad school life in ways that classes and department orientations fail to do.
Astronomy on Tap
If you happened to find yourself at the Grand Stafford Theater in Bryan, TX on a Wednesday night from 2022-2024, you just might have seen me on stage for the local Astronomy on Tap! I had the pleasure of anchoring our monthly 'In the News' segment, where I shared the biggest news from the astronomy community. I have have recently relocated to Penn State, which has its own very active AoT chapter. Now you might find me winning trivia or pontificating about why Boron is objectively the worst element on the periodic table. AoT is a great place for people of all ages to come and see talks about astronomy. Perfect for all from the most amateur space enthusiasts to professors of astronomy, anyone can have a great time at an AoT event.