I completed two undergraduate degrees at the University of Oregon: theatre arts (2010) and physics (2017). My minors included business (2010), Spanish (2010), and math (2017).

Physics, astronomy, and planetary science

I love doing science because every project comes with fascinating history, new subject matter to study and understand before communicating it to an audience, novel creative challenges, intense collaboration and teamwork, and a lot of joy. Science is an endeavor that’s always evolving and never completed that seeks to reveal something fundamental about the human experience and our place in the universe.

~*~

During my physics degree, I was able to take courses in science communication, volunteer at the Pine Mountain Observatory as a star party/open house guide, and participate in undergraduate research. As an undergrad researcher, I got to learn about interferometry and optics in the McMorran lab, and also worked with Dr. Greg Bothun on a climate science-related project. Because I was interested in astrophysics and there were limited opportunities in that field at UO, I also participated in two REUs.

Undergraduate projects:

Flux ratio detection of global thin cirrus clouds (research at UO with Greg Bothun, 2016-2017)

Delineating the Migrating Solar and Lunar Semidiurnal Atmospheric Tides in the General Circulation Models (LASP/CU Boulder REU 2016, with Astrid Maute)

Searching for simpler models of astrophysical pattern formation (Northwestern University CIERA REU 2015, with Daniel Abrams)

While doing my physics degree, I also worked part time as a university staff member in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Through that work, in 2013 I co-organized the Center for the Study of Women in Society’s 40th anniversary celebration, which included a feminist science fiction conference (during which I got to meet Ursula K. Le Guin, which was pretty awesome).

Theatre

I loved doing theatre because every show comes with fascinating history, new subject matter to study and understand before communicating it to an audience, novel creative challenges, intense collaboration and teamwork, and a lot of fun. Theatre is an endeavor that’s always evolving and never completed that seeks to reveal something fundamental about the human experience and our place in the universe.

~*~

During my theatre degree, I specialized in stage management and costume design. Professional credits include:

  • The Shedd Institute
    • Oklahoma! (assistant stage manager, mounted at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. I can still sing the whole thing)
    • White Christmas (costume crew)
  • The Lord Leebrick Theatre (now Oregon Contemporary Theatre; these are based on my memory and trolling through archive.org, as the old site is no longer accessible…)
    • The Busy World is Hushed (costume crew)
    • Speed-the-Plow (stage manager, light board op, sound board op, the whole crew–it was a really small theatre!)
  • University Theatre
    • Annelie in the Depths of the Night (stage manager for in-house show and touring show)
    • Around the World in 80 Days (stage manager, dir. Sara Freeman)
    • Metamorphoses (costume crew)
  • Various other minor credits in student productions in the student-run black box theatre that I can no longer remember 🙂

I also took a class in dramaturgy, which involves researching the historical, social, and cultural context of a play at the time it was written and first performed, as well as proposing suggestions for the same contexts for a new production in the current time of when the dramaturgical analysis is completed. This involves making about an inch thick binder of material, some new prose written, much of it collected information, images, physical materials, etc. LOVED this process, wish I had gotten to do it professionally. For this course I produced a dramaturgical analysis for Europe by David Greig.