2010 Science Speakers
 Charlotte Christensen |
Ever since reading a popular science in high school, Charlotte has been fascinated with using computer programs to model real life. As a PhD student in the University of Washington Astronomy department, she uses computers to simulate galaxy formation and growth. During her time at the UW, she has taught students raging in age from 7 to 23 and given countless planetarium shows. Before moving to the West Coast, Charlotte attended Carleton College in Northfield, MN. When not doing astronomy, Charlotte can be found at work on her knitting, in her garden, or with her nose in a book. |
 Eric Hilton |
Eric graduated with a physics major from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and promptly went to South America to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching science and developing a library. He came back from that experience loving teaching and engaging the public as much as he loves his research. He studies flare rates on low-mass stars and is interested in magnetic activity and most kinds of stellar variability. |
 Cliff Johnson |
Hailing originally from Missouri, Cliff completed his undergraduate physics degree at Colby College in Waterville, ME. After spending a post-graduate year as a researcher and observer at the University of Wyoming’s 2.3m telescope, he is now a second year astronomy graduate student at the University of Washington. Cliff’s research centers around the use of imaging from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope to study nearby galaxies in an effort to further our understanding of galaxy evolution. In his free time, Cliff enjoys cycling, skiing, and hiking in the great Pacific Northwest. |
 Chelsea Macleod |
Chelsea completed her undergraduate physics degree at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she worked at the Morehead Planetarium engaging the public through planetarium shows. Now a fourth year graduate student in astronomy at the UW, she is studying the time variability of quasars using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In her free time, she enjoys skiing and playing fiddle tunes – you can take a girl out of the south, but you can’t take the south out of the girl! |
 Rachel Mitchell |
Rachel Bio |
 Katie Murphy |
Horticulturist Katie Murphy has worked with plants in a variety of environments and climates including Washington, California, Hawaii and Western Australia. She owned and operated a landscape design and consulting business in Seattle before returning to the University of Washington to pursue a Master’s in Restoration Ecology and Environmental Horticulture. She is currently the Collections Manager of the Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium at the University of Washington Botanic Garden’s Center for Urban Horticulture. Current research interests include the role of plants in the urban environment and the suitability of urban agriculture on Seattle urban parking strips. Katie strives to demonstrate that people and plants can co-exist in our ever growing and changing urban environments. |
 Ty Robinson |
Ty Bio |
 Phil Rosenfield |
Phil is a PhD student in Astronomy at the University of Washington, he studies how stars have formed in nearby galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope. He has been coordinator of the UW planetarium, currently a director of the Forum on Science Ethics and Policy, and taught a freshman seminar to help retain under-represented students in STEM fields. Phil spent last summer working at Microsoft Research to project WorldWide Telescope in planetariums. Before the UW, he earned an MS in Astronomy from San Diego State University after completing a BA in Physics and Astronomy from Boston University. He’s originally from Minneapolis, MN. |
 Rok Roskar |
Rok Bio |
 Sarah Jane Schmidt |
Sarah grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended Barnard College in New York City, where she double majored in Physics and Astronomy. She is currently in her fourth year of graduate school in the Astronomy Department here at UW. Her thesis work centers around L dwarfs – a unique class of objects that includes both low mass stars and brown dwarfs. When she is not working on science, Sarah runs half marathons and pitches for the astronomy department intramural softball team. |