I like to call the brown fleck in my left iris a mark of my endless curiosity for the universe. My optometrist likes to call it retinal sun damage.
When the 2017 solar eclipse washed over the sky during my high school band practice, I was without a pair of glasses. But I knew I’d be remiss to not look up just once, or twice, or ten times. Over the next few weeks, I watched a brown freckle spawn in one of my always-blue eyes, and a trip to the eye doctor certified that my budding interest in the cosmos might require some more expert supervision.
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At George Washington University, I tacked on an astrophysics minor to the journalism degree I decided on as editor in chief of my high school paper. During this time, I became enraptured with science writing through an internship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. After graduating, I completed my master’s in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where I wrote science stories for Quanta, MIT Technology Review, Symmetry Magazine, Science, Eos, and Live Science. ​
I’m currently based in Washington, DC, covering science research and policy for Nature. As I continue chronicling the universe’s biggest looming questions, I look forward to my next fateful eclipse—not only to finally have my own glasses, but to use my writing as a lens for the rest of the world to see it, too.​
FAQs
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Favorite cosmic artifact: Fermi bubbles
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Favorite quark: Charm (also my favorite Clairo album)
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Favorite Glee cover: "When I Get You Alone"
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Favorite matcha: Peet's!
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Are you really in space in the picture above: Who's to say we aren't all in space at all times?
NASA, ESA and G. Gilmore (University of Cambridge)
