About

Hello! I'm Anya, a graduate student at Northwestern University. I'm originally from the Bay Area in California and I went to Hamilton college in upstate New York. I have always been fascinated with science - from an early age I knew I was going to get some sort of science degree, I just didn't known in what!

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I took my first physics course in high school and was amazed at how almost everything could be explained through a few (well, many) key concepts and equations. In college, I became more fascinated with astronomy and the Universe's enigmas. I was especially interested in how we can use computers and supercomputers to research such complex topics. This inspired me to apply for summer undergraduate research programs at Berkeley Lab and eventually pursue a PhD in astronomy! I am currently being advised by Professor Wen-fai Fong and study the host galaxies of short gamma-ray bursts. I also have studied host galaxies of other transients including Type Ia supernovae.

 

Outside of astronomy, I like to live a pretty active lifestyle! Throughout most of my life (from ages 7-21), I was a competitive swimmer and really liked the 100 and 200 backstroke. Swimming taught me a lot about how to make goals and put in the effort to achieve them - and I definitely attribute a lot of my self-motivation skills to that! Now, I really like to do yoga and go on bike rides and walks by Lake Michigan. I also love cooking - I am Asian Indian and find a lot of inspiration in that cuisine. I really love to travel, too! My junior year of college I did a semester in Spain and became fluent in Spanish.