Interviewed by Professor Jess Werk
On the first warm spring afternoon of the year, Nora and I had to shed our jackets on our walk up the hill to Tea Republik. Dr. Shipp is one of the University of Washington's newest astronomy faculty members, and an emerging leader in Near-field Cosmology. As cherry blossoms floated past the window, we discussed the mysteries of dark matter, the future of stellar stream research, and finding joy in academic work. Professor Shipp uses stellar streams in the Milky Way's halo to constrain dark matter properties—research that recently earned her the prestigious Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) Scialog grant for Early Science with the LSST.
Q: What got you interested in near-field cosmology? Why this field, of all the things you could study?
"I've always been really interested in the big picture questions about our universe—the origin of the universe, and currently, the nature of dark matter, which is such a big mystery in physics right now."
She takes a sip of tea before continuing. "I like that we can use astrophysical observations to study these really big questions about how the universe evolves. What's particularly appealing about astrophysical studies of dark matter is that even when we're not finding its nature immediately, we're still learning fascinating things about the Milky Way and different structures in our galaxy along the way. It's a really nice balance of very big, long-term goals with serendipitous discoveries that happen in the process."
Q: Tell me about your academic trajectory. Did you always know you wanted to study astrophysics?
"I've been interested in astronomy since before I could read. I used to check out those books for kids with pictures of planets from the library. But I've definitely considered other career options. When I was younger, I did ballet very intensely—I was even an apprentice with a professional ballet company and briefly thought about pursuing ballet professionally before returning to astronomy."
"I didn't apply to grad school right out of undergrad because I wasn't totally sure if I wanted to do astronomy research. I was also interested in science writing and science policy. But I really enjoyed my undergrad thesis research in indirect detection of dark matter, so I went to do a post-bac at Goddard with the Fermi collaboration before applying to grad school."
"Even at the end of grad school, I wasn't totally sure I wanted to stick with academic astronomy. I was interested in applying data science techniques to issues with more direct societal impact."
Q: Could you tell me more about your data science for social good projects?
"During COVID, I worked with an organization started by someone with a physics PhD. We built a public dashboard for informing how people could allocate COVID relief resources. We used public datasets to determine, at a county-by-county level, whether people needed global health resources—like access to hospitals—or economic relief."
"I also started helping with a project partnering with Planned Parenthood to study the effect of sex education policies in different states on teen health outcomes. I got busy with astronomy again, but I applied for the data science for social good program here. I got waitlisted, but got into one at CMU, and then it got canceled because of COVID."
Q: Tell me about academic trajectory.
"I went to high school in Maryland, but I was actually homeschooled for a while first. I only went to public school for a bit in elementary, then was homeschooled, and finally attended public high school for 11th and 12th grade."
She reflects thoughtfully. "I think homeschooling was quite impactful because we had groups of families who would come together with lots of different kids, so we weren't isolated. The big benefit was that we all got to decide what we were most excited about studying and could pursue things at our own pace."
"I took AP Physics at the beginning of high school because I was really interested, and then did an astronomy independent study because I had already taken many of the other classes. For undergrad, I went to Brown, then did a post-bac at NASA Goddard, and grad school in Chicago."
Q: What is one piece of advice that a mentor gave you that really sticks with you?
She considers this for a moment. "This career can be very difficult and stressful, but there are ways to have fun with it, and it's important to prioritize actually enjoying the work you're doing. That will also help you be successful."
"When I finished grad school and was choosing between different postdoc offers, I picked one that many people didn't recommend because it was less prestigious on paper than some of my other options. But I knew I would like the people I was working with and was excited about branching into a new research direction with simulations."
"It made a huge difference," she emphasizes. "I don't know if I would have stayed in the field otherwise. I was able to be more productive with research in a more positive environment."
Q: Do you think about that now as you structure your research group?
"For sure," she nods. "I've been thinking a lot about how to ensure the people I'm mentoring really enjoy what they're doing, while also providing the structure needed to meet goals that might be necessary in a competitive field. It's not always enjoyable to do some of those things. It's hard to strike that balance."
Q: What are you most excited about coming down the line in near-field cosmology?
"I'm definitely very excited about LSST," her excitement is palpable. "I was told there would be LSST data by the time I finished my PhD, and it's finally coming!"
"I'm particularly excited about using stellar streams to get constraints on dark matter with LSST. It's something I've been thinking about a lot, and it's been fun planning for that and bringing together people with different expertise. We need experts in the survey, data analysis, stream discovery, stream modeling, simulations of dark subhalos, and different dark matter models."
"It really requires bringing together a good group of people," she adds. "If we want a whole cosmology-style pipeline of being able to go from data to dark matter constraints, there's still more work to do, but there's exciting stuff we can do as soon as there's data."
Q: When you're not doing astronomy, what brings you joy in your life?
"I like reading," she says. "I listen to a lot of books and podcasts."
"What are you reading right now?" I ask.
"One book that I really liked recently is 'The Other Valley.' It's about a town in a valley where the valley to the east is the same town 20 years in the future, and to the west is 20 years in the past. It's almost a philosophical exploration of what you would do if people you care about die—would you mess with everything you know to try to go back and change something?"
She reflects, "I like books that incorporate philosophical questions that make you reflect on yourself."
"Lately, I've been reading a lot of thrillers—easy to read, silly page-turners that you can just sink into right away."
"I also enjoy cooking," she continues. "During spring break, I decided to cook a new recipe every day, which was fun."
"What was the best thing you cooked?" I ask.
Her face brightens. "I made this broccoli cheddar orzotto—like risotto but with orzo. It had little pieces of broccoli mixed in and roasted broccoli on top. I also made a mushroom miso pasta."
"Cooking is a nice non-screen activity," she says, "though sometimes I get too busy to cook more complex things."
Q: How has your experience been as part of the UW community?
"I really like all the people here. I appreciate that people in the department genuinely care about each other and think about ways to support everyone in the community. I don't feel like there's competition between research groups, between students, or anything like that, which is something I cared a lot about."
"I also like that there are enough people with overlapping research areas that it's possible to collaborate within the department. Having the Dirac Institute and all the people excited about LSST is great."
"We're a very collaborative department," she emphasizes, "more so than other places I've been. Some places, all the different groups are very siloed without much interaction, but here I love the way we do co-advising—you have a lot of different collaborations that allow you to get involved in other groups' research."
Q: Have you found a spot in Seattle that you like to go to rest and recharge?
"I enjoy the walk home along the Burke-Gilman trail," she says. "I started walking home from work more often, which is nice when the weather is good. I love being by the water, and it's nice that you can just walk around the city and be by water everywhere."
"The weather here is pretty good too—this winter was better than I expected compared to Boston or Chicago winters. I definitely prefer Seattle's climate."
Q: Looking ahead to your first year's achievements, what are you most proud of?
"Really, the thing that felt like the biggest achievement to me has just been getting settled here, getting my research group going, and having students."
"Seeing students who are starting to get real scientific results is really nice. I get more fulfillment from helping people than from any solo achievement."
She looks forward with anticipation. "I'm looking forward to when my students start publishing first-author papers next year. That'll feel like the real success."
Q: Any parting words of wisdom for those starting out in astronomy?
"The most important things for me have been making sure that I have a good community and good mentors—a community of peers and mentors who support each other."
"Especially here at UW, it feels like everyone is very willing to support each other and happy to help. That makes all the difference."