Nava is going into her 4th year of Astronomy and Physics at UofT with a math minor. She is originally from Ottawa, our nation’s capital. She absolutely loves all things space and math related, and still can’t believe she can make a career out of staring at the sky!
What made you decide to participate in SURP?
SURP is one of the best things an undergraduate can do to simultaneously develop research skills and experience, meet the leading scientists in the field, and learn about something absolutely fascinating. I decided to participate in SURP to do all of these things; in particular I was inspired by the work of Dr. Nathan Sandford and was incredibly eager to work with him.
What is your favourite thing about SURP?
The SURP team is very devoted to our success not only in our projects, but in our careers. I’ve loved the seminars that have taught us presentation and design skills, reading and writing scientific literature, and coaching us in grad school applications and networking. It is immediately clear to participants that we are in a supportive environment that encourages us to learn, make mistakes, and grow. In particular, SURP students are invited to visit any group meetings in the department. I love learning about the vast scope of research at UofT and figuring out what speaks to me most!
Can you tell us about your research project?
My research project this summer is to make a machine learning tool to get stellar abundances from the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) spectroscope, NIRSpec. JWST is capable of spatial resolution of spectra unmatched by any previous survey, in a much broader wavelength band, and at much lower magnitudes. However, the instrumental effects of the data are still largely unknown, and we need a quick and robust way to extract stellar abundances from the spectra. I am using APOGEE and JWST spectral data to construct a contrastive machine learning model that identifies key spectral features in either mode’s input spectrum.
Can you explain how SURP has been different from your undergrad work?
Other undergraduate work offers validation in the form of grades, which is much different than a one-on-one relationship with a supervisor. You have to be prepared to explain your work and discuss in real-time paths forward and feedback. I’ve had to escape the measurable, pass/fail mentality that I have in my courses and realize that most work beyond your undergraduate degree is non-linear.
What are your plans for the future?
My number one future plan at the moment is graduate school. Hopefully, I’ll obtain a nice PhD and forge a career defined by finding unanswerable questions! I have, however, begun to entertain a future outside of astronomy. I’ve enjoyed working in machine learning and could envision myself implementing similar models in baseball research!
Tell us something fun about yourself unrelated to SURP!
Outside of SURP, I am a huge baseball nerd, drag race fan, and Hebrew teacher! I especially love thinking about ways that baseball physics is often a toy model for the complex world of astrophysics. I am also a big outdoors person. I love hiking and camping because the wilderness is the best place to see the stars!
Nava enjoying a hike through the woods.
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is an endowed research institute with over 80 faculty, postdocs, students, and staff, dedicated to innovative technology, ground-breaking research, world-class training, and public engagement.
The research themes of its faculty and Dunlap Fellows span the Universe and include: optical, infrared and radio instrumentation, Dark Energy, large-scale structure, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmic magnetism, and time-domain science.
The Dunlap Institute, the David A. Dunlap of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and other researchers across the University of Toronto’s three campuses together comprise the leading concentration of astronomers in Canada, at the leading research university in the country.
The Dunlap Institute is committed to making its science, training, and public outreach activities productive and enjoyable for everyone of all backgrounds and identities.