Antara Basu-Zych shared the story of her professional career from student to scientist at the Department of Physics and Astronomy's weekly Physics & Astro Tea.
Career paths are not always linear, a truth that Antara Basu-Zych relayed to the Physics & Astro Tea crowd.
Hosted weekly by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Physics & Astro Tea promises engaging discussions, thought-provoking ideas and a delightful spread of refreshments. Open to all students, faculty and staff, this gathering is the perfect opportunity to connect with fellow physics aficionados in a relaxed and informal setting. Meetings take place in the third-floor lounge of Innovation Hall at 3:20 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Basu Zych became interested in astronomy at a young age at went to the University of California at Berkeley, but found herself burned out by the time she graduated. She spent time working at a telecommunications company before finding a job as a docent at a science museum. While at the museum, she was motivated to study for the physics subject GRE and apply to graduate school at Columbia University, where she graduated in 2009.
Basu-Zych left graduate school for a three-year post-doctoral position at NASA and another four-year stint on soft money, a type of external-grant funded position. Basu-Zych currently has a joint appointment with NASA-Goddard and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, primarily working on multi-wavelength studies of starburst galaxies over the history of the universe. She collaborates with Associate Professor of Physics Chris Richardson and was able to spend several days at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ in late October meeting with classes and research students.