I grew up in Great Falls, Montana, where I attended Great Falls High School, played goalkeeper for the Great Falls High soccer team, and tenor drums in the Great Falls High Drumline. After I graduated in 2016 I moved to Lexington, Kentucky, for my undergraduate degree.
As an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky, I spent the vast majority of my time exploring my many academic pursuits. Although I began my studies as a Computer Science major, I quickly joined both the Physics and Mathematics programs.
When I wasn’t studying, I worked held many different positions in the College of Engineering. I worked as a peer tutor for students studying Mathematics, General Physics, and General Chemistry. I also worked as a Prototyping Guide in the College of Engineering’s Innovation Center where I taught students how to use equipment including 3D printers, Laser Cutters, a Shopbot, and even PCB and CNC mills. This position gave me the opportunity to work on a project as a Teaching Assistant, helping to develop curriculum for the college’s First-Year Engineering Program. The College of Engineering also afforded me the opportunity to join the Kentucky Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society where I volunteered on projects helping to make a difference in the college and the Lexington community as a whole.
I also served for three years as a Resident Advisor working in four different buildings across the University’s campus. As a Resident Advisor, I got to experience working with the University of Kentucky’s Living Learning Programs including the First Generation Community and the Interprofessional Healthcare Residential College. As a Resident Advisor, my primary purpose was to mentor a floor of students, primarily freshmen, as they transitioned to collegiate life.
I found other ways to serve my campus and my community by accepting an invitation in December of 2017 to join the Nu Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society. In May of 2018, I was elected to serve as our circle’s president, a position I held until I graduated. While president, our circle hosted annual events including the President’s Day Award Ceremonies, the John Herbst Transformational Leadership Seminar hosting journalist Terry Anderson in 2019, and our semester service projects.
During my second year at the University of Kentucky, I applied and was accepted into the NASA Solar System Ambassador Program. As part of that program, I have volunteered at events at the local science center and in a local middle school where I had the opportunity to teach young students about NASA’s missions and the science of the universe.
As a part of my studies, I also received the opportunity to conduct undergraduate research with several professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. I worked on projects including Data Analysis Servers for the Nab Experiment and prototyping hardware for the AMASE Development Project.
My undergraduate experience culminated in an internship during the summer of 2019 at NASA Headquarters in the Office of the Chief Scientist. While at NASA HQ I used the natural language analysis software QUID to analyze the submissions to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey.
I graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky in May 2020 with Bachelor’s degrees in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science and accepted a position for graduate study at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai’i.