This is the fifth TAURUS Scholar Spotlight of the summer. Dr. Ben Tofflemire sat down with his mentee Miguel Gutierrez to learn more about his motivation for studying astronomy. At UT he is working on the evolution of very young stars.
Miguel Gutierrez joins the TAURUS program from the Florida Institute of Technology where he is a rising senior working towards a double degree in Astronomy/Astrophysics and Mathematical Sciences. Miguel has been active in particle and plasma physics research at his home institution but is excited for the opportunity to try on research as a full time job this summer. Miguel’s project focuses on determining how young stars interact with their protoplanetary by analyzing high-spectral-resolution, near-infrared spectra.
BT: What led to chose your major and what do you like about it?
MG: One of the things that drew me to Florida Tech was that they offer a degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics, which is rare. I was always interested in studying space and stuff and knew that I wanted to pursue those interests in college, rather than getting a degree in Physics and waiting until graduate school to do real astronomy. Plus, the department is great and I’ve really enjoyed the Astronomy courses they offer. The Math double major has also been cool because I get a lot more of the background in statistics and math theory that has made my physics and astronomy courses a lot easier.
BT: What led you to apply for the TAURUS program?
MG: I was interested in doing some kind of research internship to see how I liked doing full time research, mainly as a way to figure out what career path is best for me after I graduate. I searched for anything I could find that was astronomy and astrophysics related and came across TAURUS. It sounded fun and seemed really cool so I applied to it and got in, and I was really excited about it!
BT: Who have been some inspiring mentors/role models in your life?
MG: Recently, two of my professors at Florida Tech, Dr. Perez (UT Alum) and Dr. Caballero, have both been really inspirational and incredibly helpful. It’s not all the time that you get to have role models that are minorities, especially in this field, so it’s been super great to see really successful people that I’ve been able to relate to on that level. Dr. Perez is my academic advisor and I’ve taken two of his classes, which have been two of my favorite classes. He’s a really good professor. It’s just really cool to have someone that cares about teaching and is super passionate about the subjects he teaches. It really makes a difference, since I walk out of every lecture excited a little bit more about science.
BT: What advice would you give to high school or early undergraduate students who are interested in the science career path?
MG: Don’t be discouraged if it gets hard. I feel like a lot of people tend to cut themselves short and say, “oh I could never study that,” or “I could never do that,” because at some point they had a bad experience with a class or a person. But if you try hard enough at something, you can always do it. The way people get good at things is by doing them a lot. Math is a good example. I’m only good at math because I’ve taken so many classes. I’m not great at mental math, so if we were basing it purely on that, then I’m bad at math, right, so if it’s is something that you like, then go for it. Don’t let the difficulty of it scare you.
BT: What are some of your interests outside of school and astronomy?
MG: I definitely play a lot of video games, not as much as I would like to actually, which is a surprising thing to say, you don’t hear that a lot, but I really enjoy them. I like a lot of different types of games, but the ones that resonate the most with me are the ones that are really story intensive. I like watching movies too. I like pretty much everything, from Marvel movies to indie movies. I’m interested to see Midsommar, because it’s by the same director of Hereditary, which was one of my favorite movies of last year. I’ve also recently picked up the guitar. I really like music. I’ve been in band since 5th grade, and I really want to keep that going on the side to distract me from work in a way that feels more constructive than video games.
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At the program’s halfway point, Miguel had made great progress and will produce some exciting results by the end of the Summer.
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