I always have had a passion for teaching, but did not know how it would manifest. The academic world is one that focuses quite a bit on teaching after the terminal degree, but spends little to no time on training or the study of pedagogy when in pursuit of most PhDs. I was not aware of this when I decided to join TPP as I merely wanted to keep my options open, but in retrospect, I couldn't have chosen a better preparation for my position today as a tenure track assistant professor at City University of New York-LaGuardia, community college. Higher education in the United States will be going through many changes in the upcoming years and the emphasis will increasingly be placed on student learning and program outcomes. Community Colleges increasingly find that the pool of potential professors and instructors is coming form more traditional academic tracks and so many new hires are finding themselves unprepared for the rigors of a heavy teaching load that is increasingly being paired with a demand by tenure committees to innovate pedagogically and maintain connections to the relevant research communities. Though I was an alum of TPP more than fifteen years ago, the coursework I did with TPP prepared me to face these challenges head-on in a way that many of my colleagues struggle to do.

After graduating from Princeton, I attended University of Colorado for Master's of Science in Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences 2004-2005.  I was an Instructor in Physical Sciences at Harold Washington Community College, Chicago, IL 2005-2007.  I then attended Columbia University for a PhD in Astronomy 2007-2014 (predoctoral fellowship at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 2013-2014).  I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY) 2014-2015, a Postdoctoral Fellow in Research Astrophysics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Santiago, Chile) 2015-2017.  Today, I am an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at LaGuardia Community College -- City University of New York.  I also advise students from High School to Graduate School on research projects related to astronomy and astrophysics. My current project is as scientific advisor to Grand Mesa Observatory.