Outreach and Social Justice at Northwestern

As a woman in astronomy, I have always felt outnumbered, and although it's improving, the environment of physics and astronomy is not always welcome to minorities. Along with achieving my scientific research goals, I hope to foster a more positive environment for underrepresented groups. I am passionate about outreach and social justice efforts within my own department, below I list some of the things I do!

NSF AGEP - CIERA Social Justice Project

I, along with two other graduates students, received funding from the NSF AGEP grant for the purpose of improving  the graduate student experience within CIERA (the astronomy research center at Northwestern). We funded several speakers over the 2021-2022 academic year to give presentations to our community on intersectionality of astronomy and social justice efforts, have stocked a pantry with snacks for graduate students, and have initiated efforts to put free menstrual cycle products in all bathrooms.

CIERA Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Team

In the 2021-2022 academic year, I was a member of the CIERA JEDI team, where I helped plan climate surveys and community building events and talks.

CIERA Social Justice Weekly Meeting Committe

From the summer of 2020-2021, I helped lead social justice weekly meetings for CIERA. We discussed a variety of important topics, including the #BlackinAstro series on AstroBites, police brutality, and student-led protests at Northwestern.

Letters to a Pre-Scientist

In my first year of graduate school, I was involved with Letters to a Pre-Scientist. In this program, I was made a pen-pal to a 5th grade student to discuss science and obstacles that come up with research and how I overcame them.