Happy Black History Month! As we celebrate Black ancestors, leaders, creators, teachers, and scientists who are our bedrock and inspiration, we also want to uplift the brilliant members of our astrophysics community who are our Black Present and Black Future. We'll be posting interviews over the next couple of weeks of several scientists, talking about their work, what inspired them to pursue science, and what Black History Month means to them. First up: Kiersten Boley.
 |
| Kiersten Boley (she/her), OSU PhD Candidate, NSF Graduate Research Fellow |
CSMA: Thank you again so much for agreeing to do this. To get started, could you please tell me more about yourself, and start with your name, your pronouns, and where you're currently at school.
Kiersten: I’m Kiersten Boley, my pronouns are she/her, and I'm in grad school at OSU, but I'm currently doing a fellowship at IPAC, which is pretty fun, I'm getting the sunny weather. I guess in terms of my background, I grew up in an interracial home. So I'm half black, half white, my mom's black, my dad's white. And, we grew up like really poor, broke, you know, those food stamps were great. And neither of my parents had been to a college before at all: my dad, he didn't even finish high school and my mom, while we were growing up, she got a certificate to work in a pharmacy, but then once me and my older brother went to college, she actually went to college and she graduated with her degree in biology. So we're super proud of her for that. But yeah that's a little bit about my background.
CSMA: So given this background, what inspired you to pursue a career in astronomy or science in general?
Kiersten: So I would attribute that to my mom. She is just super critical thinking, but also she's really good at problem solving. And we just grew up in this environment where if something was broke, you had to figure out how to fix it and how to solve whatever problem you have. You didn't really have the option, right. You had to figure it out. Otherwise you're not going to get X, Y, or Z. I always thought it was fun. And some of my favorite memories growing up were just this having to solve some sort of issue or problem. And it was always actually really fun. Like I remember this one summer where our car got repoed and you know, my mom, she was working so hard and she was working at Walmart at that time. So me and my brother - I was in middle school and my brother was in high school - I just remember us like riding our bikes to town, like in the summer rain, and then having, you know, having to figure out all of these logistical things while my mom was working. I think that basically, I just grew up problem solving and I really enjoyed it. And in terms of astronomy, I kind of stumbled into astronomy. I remember taking a geology class when I was getting my Associate’s and I really enjoyed geology. And then I ended up taking some physics class, and I absolutely was just drawn by a General Relativity. Eventually I got an internship with this super awesome person at Lawrence Livermore, that was my first astronomy internship, and he was so awesome. He told me about how great the field was, but also I would just really enjoy what I was doing as well. His name is William Dawson and he's still there. He's still great. But, yeah, so I think all of those things combined was kind of what took me to astronomy and then, you know, liking rocks and also liking space is kind of what put me into the exoplanet subfield.
CSMA: That's interesting how you had this class that wasn't even necessarily about astronomy, but you were interested in astronomy concepts and then an internship led to your current research. That's really cool! Can you tell me about what you’re currently working on?
Kiersten: So what I do generally is I work on how elemental abundances can tell us about planet formation and the evolution of the planet. And so I've got two different branches that I do. I look at the statistics of planet occurrence rates. So how many planets form around certain types of stars, et cetera. Then I also am going to have this kind of theory portion of it, where we're looking at how the compositions change your planet. Those are two routes that I'm super excited about. I also love planet interiors, so I definitely want to travel down that path much more. Um, but they all tie in together. You need high-level statistics to try and figure out these trends in order to inform your models.
CSMA: Absolutely. So are you working with Kepler data and TESS data? Or is it like just all of the exoplanet detections, like kind of pulling that whole database?
Kiersten: I'm just doing TESS data right now. I think Kepler data would be interesting. I've talked to - I don't know if you're familiar with Jessie Christiansen -
CSMA: I don't know her personally, but I know her work.
Kiersten: Yeah, so I'm working with her right now. And we've kind of talked with one of her post-docs about doing something that looks at TESS and Kepler, but just right now TESS and maybe in the future, other things, which I imagine I'll have to, at some point, right.
CSMA: I guess since you're working mostly with TESS data, then is this your interest in looking at smaller planets?
Kiersten: I am most interested in smaller planets, however, I currently work with larger planets since they are just easier to look at. So of course you can't just ignore those guys. My last paper was specifically on hot Jupiters, but I feel like most people are interested in these smaller planets
CSMA: Yeah, absolutely. Those are the ones that are exciting! So in your opinion then, what qualities make astronomy so unique and compelling?
Kiersten: I think that there’re a couple of different aspects. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like most people wonder about the universe. And you think about all of these crazy things, and then you think about how small you are. And for me, That is one of the most compelling things just to understand the universe and just to know about, like, even a tiny portion of it is just really awesome. Earth is cool and you know, that's fine, but *laughter*
CSMA: *Laughter* I completely understand.
Would you share anything that you're particularly proud of? For example, something that's happened along your academic or personal trajectory?
Kiersten: Yeah. So I would say, um, I'm actually just proud that I made it through undergrad and I know that that doesn't sound like a huge thing.
CSMA: That is an accomplishment!
Kiersten: To give some context: I got my Associate’s in physics and then I transferred to Georgia tech. So I was living in Atlanta and just to get by, I had scholarships for tuition, but I just remember like the first year there I was working 40 hours a week at this restaurant. It was well paying, I guess, 'cause it was like a fancy restaurant, but in order to pay for my living expenses I had to work 40 hours a week, and then I also was taking classes full time. And then on top of that, I was trying to get this other scholarship that was a ROTC scholarship. So I was getting home from work at like one in the morning, and then waking up at five to get to all of this stuff. So I just remember not sleeping and just making it through that, but once I got that scholarship, everything kind of lightened up a little bit.
I'm really proud that I stuck with it and I made it through.
CSMA: That’s so impressive that you had to work this full-time job, and then you're doing ROTC. It sounds like no sleep and then no time to at least sit down and, you know, do assignments and like go to class, like how? Did you sleep at all during undergrad?
Kiersten: *Laughter* I think I was averaging like four hours of sleep, but I would not do it again. And I don't even know how I did it to begin with the thought of doing that now. I'm like, nah, I would just quit!
CSMA: I’m already tired from just an average 6 – 8 hrs of sleep, I can’t imagine doing that intense schedule. That's incredibly impressive and that is absolutely something to be proud of! Oh man, you are starting off so strong as our first interviewee. I’m sure our others will also be just as amazing, but -
Kiersten: *Laughter* I know, there's so many impressive people in the field, like, Caprice Phillips she's just like, I love her so much. And she's like my role model and she's always feeding me things like, ‘oh, you should apply for this’. There's such a great community of us who are supporting each other and trying to get us to the next step and, you know, help each other out to where we're at.
CSMA: It’s so so great. Caprice Phillips is definitely one of those absolutely amazing role models. I see what she does, and I'm just like, if I could be like half as cool that would be awesome.
Kiersten: I know. I tell her that all the time I'm like, my goal is to be you.
CSMA: Exactly.
Speaking of role models and helping others in our community, what advice would you give to high school and undergrad students of color interested in following your path?
Kiersten: I think I would say that there's so many different things that you can face. And I'm super privileged in the sense that like I don't present as Black and I now recognize this. People will guess that I'm mixed, but I don't present as Black. But I do present as other than white. So I understand it’s hard to see no one around you, and no one doing the same things that looks like you. So I think finding those like counter-spaces, those people that you can talk to and latch onto is really important.
I know when I was going through undergrad, there was like one Black person in the cohort. And then the majority of the people in physics were white, but I had a group of friends that were doing engineering and stuff. And since we had to do some of the same core classes, that's when I met them and I kind of latched on to them. And although they weren't exactly like me, they were people of color. And so that, that really helped make me feel like I wasn't the only one.
Then I think that being patient with yourself is important. If you come from a lower income background, you're already at a disadvantage. And especially if you're first generation as well, which a lot of people of color are, they're coming from these backgrounds. And so I would say to be patient with yourself because you don't have the resources that other people do, resources other people don’t even realize they have. Like my husband, his mom had a degree in English, so she would read over his papers and you know, all of this other stuff about just navigating this academic space. I think that looking out for resources, just Googling as much as you can and talking to people and seeing what's out there is really important just to figure out what you don't know. I don't want it to be discouraging, but just know that even if you are coming from a more disadvantaged background, you are just as good as your peers. You’re just having to start a couple of steps back and work your way up, which is totally valid. And you're still competent and you're still good. And you can still do these things.
CSMA: Like, you're starting, you're like racing against people who start at like 2nd or 3rd base, who might have had the resources of parents who went to college or University connections or, you know, have these resources in life they didn't have to look for themselves.
So you’ve come all this way, what are your future career goals?
Kiersten: So I think that mine are pretty simple. I just want to enjoy doing what I'm doing, so I want to continue doing research ‘cause that's just what I love. Whether that means being a faculty member or a scientist at a national lab or something like that, these are the things that I would really love to do.
I'd also really like to make sure whatever my future role is, that I have the opportunity to do a lot of diversity and equity work, because that's also super fulfilling. I've already done a lot of stuff. For example, I did a lot of work with Jumpstart. I worked with them for four years, and it was so great. Or if I ever get rich enough, which you know, probably won't happen, but I would love to start some sort of foundation for people of color and low-income people from low-income families providing resources for them to do STEM. I know money is really important for these things, and just at least taking that burden off of people that are just trying to make it through doesn't exactly level the playing field, but it makes it a little bit less unfair.
CSMA: That’s wonderful, thank you for sharing.
Last couple of questions: is there anything you would like to see change in the astronomy community?
Kiersten: I would say that I'd like to see more diversity. And I'd like to see people more invested in DEI work. I think that there's been a strong push, but there's definitely still some holes. I don't think that people realize how important it is - it's just really impactful to see people doing the work and to see a more diverse community. I remember going to SACNAS and NSBP. The first time I went to SACNAS, I was getting emotional because I didn't realize that that was something that I even needed or wanted: to see people like me – like, a whole bunch of people, not just one person - doing science and doing really cool things. And then NSBP, that was the kindest conference that I have ever been to, and I feel like it's so important and so impactful for people to see people like themselves. I've talked to my husband (he's white), and we'll have these conversations about representation, and it's really interesting to see his perspective on it because he doesn't feel like he needs it, but it’s because he already has it.
CSMA: I know what you mean. My partner is white and we've had this similar conversation where he's like, ‘I didn't think about the importance of seeing myself. I don't have to think about whether or not there are enough white engineers, because most of the engineers I went to school with and was taught by are white’.
Kiersten: Right, right, so it’s interesting to see, oh, you've never even thought about it. I grew up in Georgia, in a very rural part of Georgia, so it was predominantly white. And so I was constantly getting told that my hair smelled funny, and things, like, are you adopted? I mean, that's a mixed thing, but in general all these comments, and just to be at SACNAS or NSBP and to be ‘normal’ and not even think about it, it's just so nice.
CSMA: Yeah, absolutely. I have not been to NSBP in person yet, but I remember my first SACNAS and like being like, wow, it's an entire conference of people of color!
Kiersten: Straight up, like, I talked to this one guy and he was so nice. And he was from Georgia Tech (my Alma Mater), and I was about to tear up a little bit. And everyone is just this lovely and I did not know I needed this.
CSMA: I cannot wait for those conferences to be in person again because they're honestly so great. And I was bummed that NSBP was virtual and SACNAS, but hopefully this year we can go back to being together.
So finally, what does Black History Month mean to you?
Kiersten: It means so much. I think that it's just a great time to appreciate our history and appreciate all the amazing people that are out there that usually don't get that limelight, right? And I think a lot about my own family ‘cause I was taken in predominantly by the Black side of my family. Like my grandmother on my dad's side was racist and all of this stuff.
 |
| Kiersten and her amazing mom! |
No comments:
Post a Comment