Astronomy Alumnae Stories

Mount Holyoke students and alumnae can learn to conduct informational interviews with alumnae working in the field through the Alumnae Association Career Directory. Search alumnae by major or career field. In addition, some alumnae are participating in the Alumnae Stay Program which is a network of Alumnae who have offered to temporarily host students or alumnae traveling for academic or professional growth.

Abigail Daane
Abigail Daane '04: Professors at MHC showed me it was possible to balance career and family.
Louisa Rader
Louisa Rader '18: I continued my summer internship research exploring craters on Mars into my senior project
Laura at microscope
Laura Breitenfeld '17: Raman Spectroscopy is just the beginning.
Clarissa Leight '18
Clarissa Leight '18: As an intern, I met astronomy researchers and presented my findings at 2016 Division of Planetary Science conference
Helena Valvur
Helena Valvur ’18: the experience of working in a lab has taught me to be independent and confident in my own abilities
Catherine Colello Walker
Catherine Walker ’07: the ability to chart your own unique path is tremendously valuable in becoming an independent thinker and researcher
Dr. Gretchen L.H. Harris
Gretchen Luft Harris Ph.D. ’63: Mount Holyoke is a place where women are encouraged women to pursue their goals and this means beyond college
Laura Congreve Hunter
Laura Congreve Hunter '17: Processing astronomical images is how raw images taken by telescopes becomes useful information for astronomers
Julita Penido - Best Laid Plans
Julita Penido '12: in the Astronomy Department, I learned to be open to new possibilities, even if they didn’t follow the conventional path to success
Erica Keller
Erica Keller '15: atop a volcano in Mexico, I gathered real data that I would use later in the year to research galaxies billions of light years away
Mahmuda Afrin Badhan
Mahmuda Afrin Badhan ‘11: my MHC education taught me to appreciate my individuality as a woman in science and never sell myself short as I persevere
Claire Schwartz
Claire Schwartz '16: I created maps of mars missions for NASA using ArcGIS and MatLab, which I learned in my planetary science class
Katherine Bracher
Katherine Bracher ’60: Every night I sketched comet Arend-Roland and took pictures in the observatory dome and was hooked!