07: University Dropout to NASA Project Leader // The Story of Dr. Erika Hamden

Background:

Dr. Erika Hamden is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Her observational focus is on measuring and mapping diffuse hydrogen around galaxies and within star forming regions in our own galaxy. Her current projects include FIREBall, a UV balloon-borne telescope; KCRM, a spectrograph for the Keck telescope; and Hyperion, a UV space telescope she is currently developing. Her work is driven by a desire to know and understand more about the universe around us.

Hamden received a bachelor’s from Harvard in 2006 and a PhD from Columbia in 2014, both in astrophysics. She has held an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow and the R.A. and G.B. Millikan Prize Postdoctoral Fellow in Experimental Physics at the Caltech. She was awarded a Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship for her detector work in 2016. She worked as a chef for a year before beginning grad school and has a serious yoga practice.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

3:18 The current lockdown has affected Erika’s Fireball 2 telescope and its development process has been put on hold.
4:35 Erika provides a more detailed explanation of the Fireball 2 telescope.
13:09 She talks about what the telescope can do and what it can observe and detect in space.
17:50 According to Erika, we are still far away from truly understanding the universe.
21:44 In 2001, going to MIT turned out to be a struggling experience for Erika.
25:44 After dropping out of MIT, she begins to rebuild herself.
29:28 Having the support of her family was very helpful when she was going through the struggles and pressures at MIT.
34:59 In 2017, she was about to launch the telescope but something happened. This was a rock-bottom moment for her in the telescope project.
37:11 Finally, they were able to launch the balloon and everything seemed to be doing great but something went wrong.
42:59 She tells the story of a baby falcon that fell into their telescope.
45:40 Going back to college was the catalyst that helped to overcome her mental health struggles during her teenage years.
46:35 Finding out that new components in the telescope were working and doing what it’s supposed to do were some of the high moments in her work.
49:44 Being at TED Talk was nerve-wracking and stressful for Erika. She had so much emotion that she cried afterward.
52:17 Erika offers her sound advice for people who are experiencing their rock-bottom moments.

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41:35 To learn more about Eric’s backstory, please checkout his book. You can download a FREE Copy of the intro and prologue at EricGilbertWilliams.com/Book-By-Eric/.

Key Point from the Interview:

“I was like making decisions for other people and not for myself, and so after that, I have tried really hard in every decision I’ve made to make sure that I’m doing things because I want to do them, and because it’s going to make me happy.”
“The only failure is giving up.”