Anna Had Tons of Questions at Office Hours. Professor Devised A Way To Occupy Her!
Dr. Anna Quider, Goldwater Scholar, Marshall Scholar and Pitt Alum.
Dr. Anna Quider is a Goldwater Scholar, Marshall Scholar who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Physics & Astronomy, and Religious Studies & The History and Philosophy of Science, from the University of Pittsburgh.
1.What are Office Hours for anyway?
Anna was really interested in Astronomy coming out of high school.
In the Fall of her Freshman year at Pitt, she took an Intro to Astronomy class and she really wanted to learn all about it.
Her Professor scheduled Office Hours for that class on some regular basis.
Now, Anna did not really know the purpose of the Office hours,
But she thought it would a great opportunity to go these office hours and ask the Professor questions she had on Astronomy.
These questions were not limited to just the contents of the course being taught.
2.A Fixture at Office Hours
So she would go to every single office hour that was offered.
A lot of times nobody else showed up.
So, Anna just viewed that as her hour to ask this astronomy professor, every astronomy question she’d ever had.
She didn’t know that, this is not typically how people use their office hours.
3.Can Someone Keep Anna Occupied? Please!
Now, 4-6 weeks into this session, the Astronomy Professor started reaching out to his colleagues in the department.
He apparently told them that there’s this young lady who loves Astronomy and very keen on it;
So, “will somebody please give her a project so she is occupied?”
She is spending all my time in the Astronomy office hours, asking me millions of questions!
That’s how Anna met Professors David Turnshek and Sandhya Rao in the Quasar research group.
4.The Start of a Research Journey
So November of her freshman year, Anna had an interview with Profs. Turnshek and Rao.
They studied Spectra - where light has gone through a type of prism from galaxies that are really far away;
Trying to understand the chemical composition of those galaxies, and how their gas is moving in the galaxies, and what types of stars are in the galaxies and more.
They clicked - Anna and the Professors, so she started working with them right away.
She stayed with that same research group until she graduated almost 5 years later!
On with the Podcast
In this Podcast, Dr. Anna Quider shares her University of Pittsburgh undergraduate journey, Interest in Astronomy, UG Research on Quasars, Winning the Goldwater Scholarship, Being a Marshall Scholar, Career in Policy, and her Advice for High Schoolers.
Listen to Dr. Anna Quider of University of Pittsburgh: Physics and Astronomy & Religious Studies, Goldwater & Marshall Scholar, and Science & Higher Ed Policy. (63-Minute Listen).
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Venkat