Episode 9 – Daniela Huppenkothen

“[Standardized testing] looks deceptively useful because it compresses a person to a single number where they can say everyone above is useful and everyone below should be cut… I almost failed my undergraduate statistics class – and I now basically do statistics for astronomy… the big difference [in research] is there’s not a test where someone knows the right answer”. – Daniela Huppenkothen

Daniela Huppenkothen is the Associate Director at the DIRAC Institute of University of Washington, home to a diverse team of researchers in astrophysics and cosmology.

Before arriving at DIRAC, she has studied space & data science as a:

Moore-Sloan Data Science Fellow of NYU – a multi-dimensional and independent research programs with impact in several scientific domains
PhD recipient at University of Amsterdam – where she researched high & low energy astrophysics and the relationship between the two communities, namely “magnetar bursts”.
Blogger of Hackathons, Data Science, and Academia – Daniela takes on a number of issues and shares her wise life lessons along the way.

In this conversation, we cover a wide-range of topics, including:

The all-too-common (but remarkably important) mix up between astrology and astronomy
How data science has a place in astronomy, with telescopes more powerful than several hundred iphones
Frustrations with academia, a lack of validity when it comes to standardized testing, and how one learns to love getting harsh criticism
How astronomy is an exciting opportunity to build teams who collaborate in unexpected ways, and tie together multiple backgrounds
How Daniela’s academic outlook developed from open source – without necessarily realizing it in the moment

Enjoy the show!

Show Notes: https://atomic-temporary-136074701.wpcomstaging.com/podcast/ep9/

Daniela’s Website: http://huppenkothen.org/

Daniela’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-huppenkothen-0b44a97b/

AJ’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajgoldstein393/