Mentorship

This year, I have had the honor of having Ms.Taylor Hutchison as my mentor. Taylor Hutchison is an astrophysicist and NSF Graduate Fellow at Texas A&M University.  She works with some of the most distant galaxies ever discovered, ones which existed when the Universe was barely one billion years old -- meaning their light traveled over 12.7 billion years to reach our telescopes.  In order to study these early galaxies, she uses some of the largest telescopes on the Earth (and in space!). Outside of her work and outreach, Taylor places a great deal of importance in the service positions that she holds.  She is the Editing Director for #UniqueScientists, an international program dedicated to removing sterotypes about what a scientist "should" look like -- something that is very important to her as a bisexual woman in science.  Additionally, she has co-founded a number of mentoring and community-focused groups in her graduate program.  Taylor subscribes to the belief that the service she can provide to her local and scientific community is equally as important as the scientific research that she accomplishes. Through her guidance, I was able to finish my original work project, create the website for it through html code, learn how to create and use a GitHub account, and finally learn about python and apply it into four different projects.