Scholar Spotlight: Steve Anusie

The first TAURUS Scholar Spotlight of the year focuses on Steve Anusie, a rising senior at Howard University majoring in Electrical Engineering.  Steve has strong interests in astrophysics as well, and is using his summer experience in TAURUS to explore possible astronomy-related careers.  His research mentor, Dr. Cynthia Froning, writes about his path to-date.

Steve Anusie is an electrical engineering major at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Steve has just completed his first year (as a junior) at Howard after transferring from Morgan University in Baltimore, MD. The youngest of six sons and a Baltimore native, Steve traces his interest in astronomy to a single moment when, while delivering pizzas, he saw a bright light in the sky and almost swerved off the road trying to look at it. This was followed by a night of online investigation during which he identified the object as Venus and then was consumed with investigating other planets and the stars. Steve has always been interested in science and nature. What draws him in particular to astronomy is its scope: the excitement of knowing that we will never be done studying and trying to understand the universe. 

When asked about previous mentors or inspirations, Steve mentioned his Astrophysics teacher at Howard, Dr. Alfred, who introduced Steve to his research work and collaborations at Goddard Space Flight Center. Steve particularly appreciates Dr. Alfred’s approachability, his kindness, and how he demonstrates the pursuit of a well-rounded life. Steve majored in EE at the urging of his mother and is now glad that he has taken this path, because he enjoys the intellectual challenges and the opportunity to pursue hands-on application of his STEM skills. He considers mastering mathematics and C++ as his greatest challenges to date, but appreciates how they are teaching him to be persistent in learning new information. Of his achievements, he is most proud of being accepted into the TAURUS program, as well as how his career are gelling after his transfer to Howard.

Steve's goals for the TAURUS program include learning about how research is done and what it would be like to pursue a graduate program in astronomy. He is also interested in instrumentation and the possibility of applying his engineering skills to astronomical work. His plans for this summer are to gather the experience necessary to set his targets for the remainder of his undergraduate career. He appreciates that his engineering major and astronomy interests give him the ability to pursue a broad range of professional options and plans to use the TAURUS program to decide where to direct his focus going ahead. 

This summer, Steve is working with Dr. Cynthia Froning. He will be constructing light curves of flares in cool stars with the goal of identifying tracers of stellar activity and understand how flares affect the habitability of exoplanets around low-mass stars. Steve is also talking to different instrument builders in the Department and McDonald Observatory, touring labs and facilities, and learning about astronomical instrumentation careers as part of his summer research experience.

TAURUS 2018 is here!

L to R: Steve, Gabriella, Analis, Jordyn, Oscar and Gerlinder.

Thrilled to have started off year three of TAURUS with a bang! Six more scholars arrived in austin today to kick off this year’s nine week program.

We welcomed them this morning with new scholar orientation, then we got them set up in their offices in PMA, got them UT ID cards, and they had a feast with their grad student mentors for lunch. After lunch it was off to the races with their research projects, discussing their research in detail with their mentors.  Later this week will be the marathon python workshops to brush up on their coding skills, and some much needed time to settle in. Check back soon for more TAURUS news from 2018!

Our scholars are... drumroll....

Steve Anusie from Howard University
Oscar Cantua from the University of Texas at San Antonio
Gerlinder Difo Cheri from the University of the Virgin Islands
Analis Lawrence from Florida International University
Jordyn Mascareñas-Wells from the University of Oregon
Gabriella Sanchez from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa

TAURUS Scholars at AAS 2018

We were thrilled to catch up with our TAURUS bunch at the winter 2018 AAS meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.  TAURUS Scholars presented their research via posters, schmoozed with graduate schools at the undergraduate student networking event, and had the opportunity to meet several of their peers from other astronomy programs across the country.  The five day astronomy extravaganza proved overwhelming as usual, but our group had a great time.  We are excited to see where they go from here!

Aldo Sepulveda (UT San Antonio) at his poster

Adrianna Perez (CSU Dominguez Hills) at her poster

Andrew Cancino (Missouri State University) at his poster.

A joint gathering between TAURUS, Aztlán, Banneker and AstroCom NYC students at the AAS!

We also spotted 2016 TAURUS alum Danielle Rowland presenting.

TAURUS Scholars' Symposium 2017

The 2017 TAURUS Scholars' Symposium was held on Friday August 11, the last day of this summer's nine week program.  The room was packed with members of the astronomy department and McDonald Observatory staff, eager to hear about the scholars' work over the past several weeks.  The symposium is a great time for the UT astronomy community to celebrate the accomplishments of TAURUS scholars with their mentors and share the great science which has consumed their summers.

The program of talks was:

Star Formation in Merging Galaxies using FIRE

Adrianna Perez, California State University Dominguez Hills

Mentor: Chao-Ling Hung

Kepler Meets Bayes: Dynamical Mass of the Exoplanet Host Star HR8799

Aldo Sepulveda, University of Texas San Antonio

Mentor: Brendan Bowler

Investigating Lensed Galaxy Structure

Alexander Fortenberry, University of the Virgin Islands

Mentor: Rachael Livermore

How well can we really measure the substellar boundary?

Andrew Cancino, Missouri State University

Mentor: Trent Dupuy

Probing Into the Atmosphere of the Young Exoplanet K2-25b

Pa Chia Thao, Mt Holyoke College

Mentor: Andrew Mann

Categorizing Candidate Galaxy Protoclusters with Planck

Jonathon Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mentor: Caitlin Casey

After the talks we celebrated with refreshments as we wished our TAURUS scholars well on their journeys back to their home universities!  But this isn't goodbye, because we will all see the TAURUS scholars again soon at the 2018 winter meeting of the AAS in National Harbor, Maryland this coming January!

Here are some great shots of the 2017 TAURUS send-off:

The reception after the talks!

TAURUS Scholars with Director Caitlin Casey.

The silly group shot. :)

TAURUS Scholars with their Grad Mentors!

The TAURUS 2017 McDonald Adventure!

This post was written by UT graduate student Briana Indahl who co-led the TAURUS 2017 trip to McDonald Observatory with fellow graduate student Sam Factor.  Here Briana describes the TAURUS adventure in West Texas!

Our adventure out to McDonald Observatory began early in the morning on July 31st. The crew consisted of or 6 TAURUS scholars Johnathan Brown, Aldo Sepulveda, Pa Chia Thao, Alexander Fortenberry, Andrew Cancino, Adrianna Perez,  and one UT undergrad Logan Pearce. The trip was led by experienced McDonald observers and UT graduate students Briana Indahl and Sam Factor. After loading up our bags, cameras, tripods, and snacks we set off on our 7 hour journey west. Despite an unexpected pitstop in Fredricksburg, TX for some freshly picked peaches and homemade jams we made it to the observatory just in time for dinner.

We kept ourselves busy the first evening in order to adjust to night schedule for our first night of real observing the following evening. After our first dinner in the Astrononer’s Lodge we headed over to the 10 meter Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) for a behind the scenes tour. While getting a birds eye view of the telescope from the catwalk we learned about how this complex telescope works and its new upgrades. We also got to see the HET’s new instrument, called VIRUS, which is currently being built and installed. We learned VIRUS is made up of 156 individual spectrographs being used simultaneously as a giant instrument to conduct the Hobby Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Luckily we were there just in time to also get to see one the the mirror segments get polished!


Once the sun went down we headed over to the 2.1m Otto Struve Telescope. UT graduate student Zach Vanderbosch was observing that night and he gave us a tour as well as taught us about how he is trying to understand pulsating white dwarfs through time series observations. We spent the rest of the night star gazing at the beautifully clear sky and learning how to take astro photographs through Sam’s 8in telescope we set up outside. Aldo was especially excited because this was his first time seeing the Milky Way!

The next 3 nights were our nights to observe with the 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope. We observed with an instrument called the Mitchell Spectrograph (also known as the VIRUS Prototype instrument). Our primary science goal was to observe standard stars with the Mitchell Spectrograph simultaneously with VIRUS on the HET. Since the Michell Spectrograph has been used for many years it is very well calibrated. These simultaneous observations will allow the team using VIRUS to study dark energy to better understand their observations.

Despite some bad weather the first couple of nights, the students got to learn how to use the telescope, take calibration data, set up targets for observing, and take data. We weren’t able to observe simultaneously with the HET the first couple of nights due to weather but we did get some observations of some fun targets such as Saturn during some pockets of clear weather. The students quickly became experts in knowing how to monitor weather and make the sometimes tough judgement calls as to when to close the telescope to protect it from bad weather conditions. This is an essential skill to observing that can only be learned from these types of experiences. When we couldn’t observe we spent some time learning about the instrument but also playing games like Spaceteam and werewolf.

To get our spirits up after a couple of nights of bad weather we took an afternoon road trip to the nearby town of Marfa, TX. Marfa is a small but unique West Texas town filled with mysteries, myths, and a ton of art. After checking out some Donald Judd works at the Chianti Foundation and channeling our inner Beyoncé at Marfa’s famous Food Shark we ventured back to the observatory. On our way back we meandered down a long dirt road behind the historic Prude Ranch and found the one of the giant radio telescopes that is part of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA).

After the sun when down we walked up to the 2.7m dome for our last night of observing. Luckily the storm clouds cleared and the humidity dropped and we finally got an entire night to observe! The students, now very familiar with the telescope and the observing software, lead the set up and observations of the standard stars. We continuously called the HET observing staff to coordinate our observations and the night was a success!

The students also got to observe on the 30in telescope that night. Since UT undergrad Logan Pearce had used the telescope once before she got to train the TAURUS students how to use it. They observed a few classic astronomical objects such as the Ring Nebula and the Eagle Nebula.

Despite being tired after a long night of observing, after closing the telescope for the night, we spent another hour in the crisp morning air on the catwalk of the 2.7m and watched the sun rise over the HET in the distance. This made for the perfect end to our McDonald Observatory adventure.

Scholar Spotlight: Jonathon Brown

This is the sixth and final scholar spotlight of 2017.  This week, our TAURUS director, Caitlin Casey, sat down with her mentee in the TAURUS program, Jonathon Brown, a rising junior at MIT majoring in physics, about his journey and interest in astronomy in astrophysics.  Jonathon is working with Prof. Casey on understanding the physical nature of candidate galaxy clusters identified by the Planck satellite.

CC: Tell us a bit about yourself.  What’s your story?

JB: Hi, my name is Jonathon and I grew up in Monroe, Michigan, which is between Toledo and Detroit.  I lived in Tennessee for seven years as a kid, but moved back to Michigan when I was seven.  I have two younger sisters who are now 16 and 19.  My family has had a difficult time dealing with the death of my father when I was a junior in high school, but we’re trying to persevere through that.  I’ve been at MIT for two years now studying physics.

CC: What draws you to science and inspired you to pursue a career in astronomy (or physics)?

JB:  I’ve always been interested in astronomy, often looking up at the stars as a kid and wondering how they work and where they come from.  As I progressed through school I realized that I had an affinity for math and science.  It just made sense to me!  I started to ask myself questions about how things work, why they move a certain way, and what the math and science was behind it.  After learning some calculus, everything started to make sense and I found that really eye-opening.  I decided I wanted to know more about how things came to be, so that’s how I chose to study physics.

CC: What are you most proud of?

JB: To be honest, probably getting to MIT.  I know that having a degree from MIT will open up doors I never knew of before; I’ll have quite a few opportunities I wouldn’t have had before, especially as a first-generation college student.  It’s also important for me to be a role model to my sisters, showing them that we can change our lives, and things don’t always have to be the way they might have been in the past. 

CC: What has been the most challenging obstacle you’ve faced as an undergraduate?  What have you learned from that challenge?

JB: Hardest thing for me has been coming to terms with how people change, especially in the context of dealing with family tragedy.  My dad’s death has been hard on everyone and it has changed my family’s dynamics in a way that has been difficult to deal with during college.  Juggling my studies with that dynamic has been difficult.  Sometimes my peers will say “let’s try to get through this homework set,” but my mind will be elsewhere.  I feel as though I always have to perform really well, despite dealing with extra pressures in my life that some of the other students don’t have.  It’s a challenge.

CC: Have you learned anything from these challenges that could be helpful to other students in similar positions?

JB: Always take care of yourself first.  It’s easy to forget about yourself when you’re worried about something else happening in your life, but ultimately you’re in charge of you.  Eat right, get sleep, and seek out help when you need it.  Don’t let the things you can control slip away.

CC: What mentors, teachers or role models have been the most inspiring to you in your life?

JB:  My dad was a major role model for me.  He taught me quite a lot and was always very supportive in my learning.  Some of my teachers in high school were also very encouraging and pushed me to be more ambitious with my college plans, shifting focus first from community colleges to state universities, and dream colleges like MIT.  And now I’m there.  At MIT, one mentor of mine, who is a staff researcher, has been helping me figure out what I might like to pursue for research.  I really appreciate his effort to help me navigate my time as an undergraduate. 

CC: Where to next?  Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 years?

JB:  I’m eager to finish up my undergraduate degree at MIT and pursue graduate school in either astronomy or astrophysics, general physics, or Earth and planetary science.  I’m not sure which yet, though.  Going through an experience like TAURUS has been helpful to get exposure to research.  I’ve realized sometimes I struggle too much independently and I’m reserved about asking for help, but I see now that that’s a natural part about learning how to do research.  I’m learning a lot of python and getting a good idea of what doing astronomy research is like, which I’m eager to pursue in graduate school.

CC: Any advice for students who might like to participate in the TAURUS program in the future?

JB: Definitely apply! You won’t know what research feels like unless you come here.  More generally, I encourage you to reach out to people in the field and let them know what your interests are and seek out lots of advice.

Scholar Spotlight: Aldo Sepulveda

This week’s TAURUS interview is with Aldo Sepulveda, an undergraduate student from the University of Texas San Antonio.  Aldo is working with Dr. Brendan Bowler to determine the orbits and host star masses of directly imaged exoplanets.

BB: Can you talk how you first became interested in physics and astronomy?

AS: I’ve always enjoyed math and science.  As a child, those were always my favorite subjects in school.  During my first semester at UTSA we were required to take AIS (Academic Inquiry and Scholarship) and that’s where I was reconnected with the part of myself that really liked science and math.  My experience in that course inspired me to want to pursue a career in science as a life goal.  Astronomy and physics are simply the areas of science that fascinate me the most.

BB: In your TAURUS application you had mentioned your interest in exoplanets.  Can you talk about how that came about?

AS: Earlier this year Dr. Nancy Levenson from the Space Telescope Science Institute gave a talk at UTSA all about the James Webb Space Telescope and all the cool science it will accomplish.  I talked with her a bit about exoplanets and she told me about all the things JWST could clarify, like models of planetary atmospheres.  So it’s because of that experience that exoplanets in particular were in my head.

BB: Have you experienced any challenges during your education, and if so how have you overcome them?

AS: Being a first generation college student was a challenge (my parents don’t have college degrees) because I didn’t know anyone who had been through college before.  So everything that I know now, especially for a career in academia and graduate school, I had to find out on my own in college.  So that was tough.  However, I think of it as a double-edged sword because it’s also turned into extra motivation; knowing that there’s a lot I still don’t know has made me seek out advice and information about careers in astronomy and graduate school.  For instance, finding out about summer research programs was part of this drive.  So although it was a challenge at first, it ended up giving me extra motivation that’s become very helpful to me.

BB: Is there anything that you’re particularly proud of that you’d like to share— for example, something that’s happened along your academic or personal trajectory?

AS: There’s one thing that comes to mind: recently home life got stressful and was interfering with my college work and my well being.  Early last semester I decided to move to an apartment close to UTSA to escape from that.  I’m proud of that decision because it was a necessary act of self care, and my ability to focus on college has substantially improved from that decision. 

BB: Thanks for sharing that.  You arrived early this summer to attend the AAS meeting in Austin.  That was nice because we were able to meet each other before the summer program started.  Can you talk about what motivated this and what you learned from your first astronomy meeting?

AS: I was accepted into TAURUS so I knew that I was going to go to the AAS meeting in the winter to present research.  I looked into the AAS because of that and I noticed there was a summer meeting in Austin one week before this program starts.  It was too lucky and convenient of a date to pass up.  So of course I was going to go!  One particular motivation was that I wanted this meeting to be the first exposure to a scientific conference as opposed to a winter one where I would be presenting research.  

I learned a lot from the meeting.  It was a remarkably wide spectrum of knowledge; it had everything from tips and advice for astronomy careers to the importance of public outreach in science to the fact that solar wind is a result of thermal pressure temporarily winning over gravity.  I learned all kinds of things there.  It was a great experience and I’m glad I went.  I’m looking forward to the winter meeting.  I’ve never been in an environment like that, surrounded by so many people doing astronomy.  It was lovely.  I really felt like that was my first exposure to the world of astronomy.  

BB: I enjoy the AAS meetings too.  The science is great, you always learn something new, and it gives you ideas for your research.  It’s also a great networking opportunity to meet new people and form new collaborations.  Wait until you see the much larger winter meetings!   

Can you talk about what your research or personal goals have been throughout this summer?  What do you continue to hope to achieve for the remaining few weeks of the program?  What would success look like for you in the TAURUS program?

AS: My primary goal was to get my first research experience.  Starting on day one, I already felt like this was a success.  Some of my other goals included learning everything and anything I can, doing a good job on the research project, and boosting my overall confidence— which is a personal goal that was important to me for the summer.  Every week that I’m here I learn so much and gain more experience.  I’m really happy to be here this summer.  

BB: Do you have a better feel for what the research process is like? 

AS: Yes!  That was a big motivation for seeking out these summer programs to begin with.  Certainly with programming experience; I had taken one introductory programming class, but now I feel like I can actually use that and apply it not just to a homework assignment but to an actual task we want to accomplish related to our research goals.  I also feel that my general understanding of the research literature has improved compared to the start of the summer.

BB: What are your future and long-term career goals?  

AS:  After I complete my undergraduate studies, my next goal is to enter a graduate program and earn a Master’s degree and PhD degree in astronomy.  I don’t think I’ve told you that yet!  I was interested in graduate school as soon as I knew that that was part of becoming a scientist and having a career in academia, but it wasn’t until last semester that I felt like I wanted to pursue a PhD in astronomy.  But at this stage I’m leaving my specific career options open.  Right now I feel like I’m learning and training for academia, but I know that that’s not the only option.  Ultimately as long as I find a career related to astronomy in some way, and I can support myself with it, then that’s certainly going to make me happy.

BB: Having been through 5 weeks of research, do you plan to apply to REU programs again next summer?

AS: Heck yeah!  I’ve heard that it’s good to find out early whether you like research to know whether you want to go down that route.  I’m relieved that I’ve been enjoying this and I want to keep at it.