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Astronomy student reaches for the sky with internship

Michelle Nowling was one of 19 students from across the country selected to spend nine weeks as a National Astronomy Consortium intern at the NRAO. Photo courtesy of Michelle Nowling.

Michelle Nowling was one of 19 students from across the country selected to spend nine weeks as a National Astronomy Consortium intern at the NRAO. | Photo courtesy of Michelle Nowling.

This summer, a UH physics senior was selected for a prestigious internship with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory internship program.

Michelle Nowling was one of 19 students from across the country selected to spend nine weeks as a National Astronomy Consortium intern at the NRAO. Last month, she presented her research project at a national scientific conference of over 1,000 professional astronomers.

Drew Brisbin, Nowling’s mentor for the summer, expressed his fascination with her project and its ramifications.

“Michelle studied light emitted from nitrogen in primordial galaxies about nine billion light years away,” Brisbin said. “This means that, although the light is just reaching us now, it was emitted when the Universe was only about a third as old as it is now. These galaxies are among the most distant in which we’ve detected this emission from nitrogen, giving this work the potential to have dramatic repercussions on our understanding of how the early Universe accrued heavy elements and how galaxies grew.”

Nowling said her first physics teacher, Lou Jisonna at Lone Star College — North Harris, inspired her to look into physics. He helped guide Nowling on her career path.

“Before that time, I was interested in astronomy, but my advisers and mentors didn’t know how to set me along that path. So, I fumbled around, taking any course I thought was interesting and needed to graduate with my associate degree,” Nowling said. “Dr. Jisonna was the first person who told me I could be a physics major.”

Jisonna was also the person to recommend Nowling for the internship.

“I wasn’t too sure about applying for the internship at first because they were highly competitive,” Nowling said. “I applied, and he wrote me a letter of recommendation along with two of my other great mentors. Without Dr. Jisonna, it would have taken me a lot longer to realize I could obtain a STEM degree, if at all.”

Nowling believes that some universities might overlook these astronomy programs for students who need them, so it is up to organizations like National Astronomy Consortium. With the nation stressing the need for STEM majors, more students are being inspired to pursue these careers.

“The mission of the internship is to increase the number of students,” Nowling said.

“The students who otherwise would have been overlooked by the traditional academic pipeline, into STEM and STEM careers by placing them in a cooperative, diverse team over the summer and beyond. We receive professional development training and have access to long term mentor training.”

Allison Peck, who works NRAO, said she has seen Nowling transform into someone confident in her major and future career.

“Our internships at NRAO are intended to provide students with experience in a professional research environment to help them decide what they’d like to do after college. In this sense, Michelle has been a model participant,” Peck said.

While at NRAO, Nowling took part in projects, presented results and lead a small team.

“It has been our pleasure to work with Michelle, and we are confident that the experience she has gained at NRAO, combined with her hard-working and conscientious nature, have prepared her for success in her professional career,” Peck said.

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