Snapshots: Stars in Her Eyes

 

Undergraduate Kaitlyn Schultz earned a NASA Space Grant to study space bubbles. 

 

By Micaela Myers

 

It may seem a lofty goal to study space as an undergraduate, but for motivated University of Wyoming students, the stars are well within reach. Junior astrophysics and physics student Kaitlyn Schultz of Sheridan, Wyo., does just that and earned a Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium fellowship to study space “bubbles.”

“Galaxies are made of stars and dust, and I study holes in them — empty spaces and why and how they formed,” Schultz says. “We use data from the Hubble Space Telescope, and we’re hoping to add in data from the James Webb Space Telescope.”

Her research involves a great deal of data and coding, and Schultz is working with her mentors on a paper for publication. 

“Classes are great, and you learn a lot, but how you actually apply what you learn to real life is not very clear most of the time,” she says. “Being able to take data from real telescopes and see the galaxy and stars that I’m studying — and use coding and math to find real-world answers for what I’ve been studying — is just amazing.”

The funding from the NASA Space Grant even enabled Schultz to present her research at national conferences such as the American Astronomical Society conference in Washington, D.C.

“It’s so amazing to be a young person in the field and to be able to present what I’ve learned and have people see it as new and interesting,” Schultz says. 

Physics and astrophysics graduate programs are highly competitive, and Schultz’s research experience will give her a leg up. 
“Learning how to do the research and what it means to be self-motivated and a team player has been super helpful as I think about where I want to go career wise in the future,” she says. 

A big part of that learning comes from her two mentors, UW Harry C. Vaughan Professor of Astronomy Daniel Dale and Hwihyun Kim, who is an instrumentation program scientist for the Gemini Observatory NSF NOIRLab. Having mentors in two different areas of her field opened Schultz’s eyes to the many opportunities available after graduate school. 

“Being able to have both of them as mentors has been great,” she says. “They introduced me to a lot of people in the larger field of scientific collaboration. They have been extremely helpful in guiding me on how to speak publicly, learn, grow and present.”

Schultz also pays it forward, doing outreach such as guiding tours of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory on Jelm Mountain during the annual open house. 

She says, “It’s really fun to meet citizens in the community who aren’t necessarily scientists but are so interested and so invested in what we do.”