Daniela Huppenkothen is the Associate Director at the DIRAC Institute of University of Washington, home to a diverse team of researchers in astrophysics and cosmology.

 Before arriving at DIRAC, she has studied space & data science as a:

• Moore-Sloan Data Science Fellow of NYU - a multi-dimensional and independent research programs with impact in several scientific domains
• PhD recipient at University of Amsterdam - where she researched high & low energy astrophysics and the relationship between the two communities, namely "magnetar bursts".
• Blogger of Hackathons, Data Science, and Academia - Daniela takes on a number of issues and shares her wise life lessons along the way.

 

In this conversation, we cover a wide-range of topics, including:

• The all-too-common (but remarkably important) mix up between astrology and astronomy
• How data science has a place in astronomy, with telescopes more powerful than several hundred iphones
• Frustrations with academia, a lack of validity when it comes to standardized testing, and how one learns to love getting harsh criticism
• How astronomy is an exciting opportunity to build teams who collaborate in unexpected ways, and tie together multiple backgrounds
• How Daniela's academic outlook developed from open source - without necessarily realizing it in the moment

Enjoy the show!

 

Show Notes: https://ajgoldstein.com/podcast/ep9/

Daniela's Website: http://huppenkothen.org/

Daniela's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-huppenkothen-0b44a97b/

AJ's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajgoldstein393/