Who I Am and What I Do
I am an astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. I work within the center's National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), which is a part of the Space Science Data Operations Office.

What does an astrophysicist do? In a very general sense, the people in my profession use physics to study and try to understand the various objects that can be found in space. One astrophysicist (or astronomer, if you prefer) can't study everything that's out there. There's way too many fascinating objects to look at–planets, stars (including our own Sun), large clouds of gas and dust, supernovae, black holes, galaxies, and much more! So scientists will usually focus on one group of objects or will concentrate on a specific wavelength region (radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays, or gamma rays).

My particular job consists of three main parts—data acquisition, research, and outreach. As a data acquisition scientist, I have responsibilities for the astrophysics data that the NSSDC holds. I am the person who acts as a bridge between the NSSDC's astrophysics archive (where the data is held) and other science archive research centers. My research is on the environment of elliptical galaxies, many of which shine brightly in the X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This means that there is very hot (like 10 million degrees hot!) material in these galaxies. For this work, I use data from the ROSAT X-ray satellite and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. Finally, I love to do things involving educational outreach. One of the outreach projects I am working on, with several people, is the Multiwavelength Milky Way project. This is an effort to make data on our home galaxy accessible to educators, students, and the general public. For the project, I work on web pages, and I also appear in the Milky Way video.

Growing Up
Now how in the world did I get here? Well, first of all, I grew up in Roanoke, VA with my parents, a younger brother, and an older cousin. In elementary school and in junior high school, I participated in science fairs working on projects that had absolutely nothing to do with astronomy. I liked science because I was always curious about how something worked and why something existed. Space fascinated me. I grew up watching Star Trek, Star Wars, and other shows/movies that portrayed space.

In high school, I took some Advanced Placement (AP) classes, and was in the marching and concert bands. I started taking a physics course, but quit early on because I felt like I wasn't learning anything. This just goes to show that you can still do whatever you want, even if you didn't get all the right courses in high school (it's a little harder though). I graduated from high school as class valedictorian.

Science remained interesting to me, and I was into anything that had to do with space. I thought that actually being out in space would be the coolest thing possible, and so I wanted to be an astronaut.

After high school, I went to Howard University in Washington, DC, and began studying physics and a little astronomy. The entire time I was at Howard, I also participated in the "Showtime" marching band. While at Howard, I was able to do a couple of summer internships at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where I gained experience in doing research. One of my professors at Howard knew I wanted to be an astronaut, and made me do research about what it takes to be an astronaut and what it is like to be in space. I discovered that my near-sighted vision would hurt my chances of being an astronaut (the requirements have since changed a bit). And I discovered that being in cramped quarters didn't sound that appealing to me. I continued to like astronomy, however. I received the Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics (graduating Summa Cum Laude) in 1991, and remained at Howard University for another year in the physics graduate program. I was really much more a physics major than an astronomy major at this point. But, I decided that I wanted to pursue astronomy as a career, so….

Career Journey
I left Howard university and went to the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), entering the doctoral program in the Department of Astronomy. While I was there, I taught some labs, co-created a short course on astronomy, went observing at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (in Arizona), presented at several conferences, and worked at a science museum which had a planetarium. Whew! I received my Master's degree in Astronomy in 1994, and then went on to finish my thesis (which was on elliptical galaxies). On December 20, 1998 I received my Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy).

I am the first African-American woman to obtain a doctorate in astronomy from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Michigan.

After my graduate work, I came to Goddard as a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) post-doctoral research associate. In this position, I continued my thesis work on X-ray emission from galaxies. When the post-doc position ended, I became an employee of Goddard. And there you go.

Personal
I still like science, because I am still curious about how something works and why something exists. Space continues to fascinate me. I love my job because I get to work on several different things, and there's always something new being discovered! I continue to participate in various conferences such as the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meetings and the National Society of Black Physicists (I served for two years as the Administrative Executive Officer for NSBP). I have also been involved with the National Conference of Black Physics Students (NCBPS) for many years. Sometimes (as with any job) things can get frustrating. But I surround myself with supportive friends and family who help me to get through the tough times. And I also maintain a life outside of work, which keeps me balanced.

Last Updated: December 18, 2001