Hey it's @AstroRickman here

I wanted to chat about how I ended up becoming a scientist

Because scientists are just normal people that have to start out somewhere in the world

And YOU can be a scientist too! https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1348879885503246336

If I go way back to my high school days I had the pleasure of attending @OrielHighSchool

My advice is to take every opportunity thrown your way!

I had great mentors that encouraged me in science & maths

My interest in physics, particularly astronomy, started to grow

I want to shout out some of my incredible science & maths teachers on here

@mrsdenyer @karenshancock @Russell_Arnott (& lots of others who are not on Twitter)

These are just some of the people that really PUSHED me beyond what I thought I was ever capable of

They encouraged me to attend additional advanced masterclasses in maths w\\ @royalsociety at @SussexUni

I was selected to attend a summer school in biomedical science at @UniofOxford

And the @suttontrust summer school in physics @Cambridge_Uni

https://www.suttontrust.com/alumni/alumni-stories/emily-rickman/

All of these opportunities were free & are designed to help increase social mobility in the UK

I went to a free state school, & I'm a #firstgen University student

But having this additional support & help through the @ucas_online application process made all the difference

Once I had a taste for the sciences, I was hooked

My teachers pushed me through my A-levels, & off I went to @sheffielduni to study an integrated Masters in Physics & Astrophysics with @PhysicsShef



https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/undergraduate/profiles/emily

As part of my Masters I spent 1 year studying at the Australian National University @PhysicsANU where I had the pleasure of:

Being lectured in cosmology by Nobel Laureate @cosmicpinot

Operating a particle accelerator

As well as my FIRST observing experience

I had the opportunity to undertake a research project at @StromloANU where I was taking follow-up radial velocities (read here: https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1348678442250809347) of planet candidates found with @NASA's Kepler spacecraft using the 2.3 metre telescope

When I returned to @sheffielduni I took up a research project in theoretical quantum physics with @ecancellieri (which is VERY different to what I do now!)

But it was a great & enjoyable experience to learn all about how to be a researcher

But after my experience of hunting for planets I was hooked to become an astronomer

So for my Masters I worked w/ data from @GeminiObs NIRI w/ @SaidaMCaballero (my first woman role model in astronomy)

We published some of this work last year

https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.00064 

I then went on to apply for PhDs & landed a position with @NCCRPlanetS at the University of Geneva @unige_en

@sciences_UNIGE is home to Nobel Laureates @DidierQueloz & Michel Mayor for finding the first exoplanet around a solar-type star so I was VERY excited to join the team

I was a very proud @sheffielduni graduate ready to tackle some of the big questions about the Universe

And although the #PhD life can be exhausting & difficult I was presented with some incredible opportunities like observing in the Atacama Desert

And I really enjoyed traveling all over the world (pre-COVID!) to present my research

Including the incredible #womeninspace conference ran by @tanyaofmars

Throughout my PhD I became a huge advocate for #WomenInSTEM including kickstarting a project for free coding classes for school children in Switzerland with women role models

You can read more in the United Nations @UN's @ITU

https://news.itu.int/hacking-gender-inequality/?fbclid=IwAR2DIFlwi2UkMdkZEIJVTOW2zgNAJzlGyoa1_cOFIZHRso_oa6KKWcArnYE

#WomenWhoCode

After 4 incredible years in Geneva hunting for planets (read more here: https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1349063833135022081) I was honored to be given an opportunity to interview for the @esa fellowship at @stsci

And after being offered the @esa fellowship i had to wrap up my PhD just as the pandemic hit but I made it to the end https://twitter.com/AstroRickman/status/1273207114274652161

Now I'm very happy to be working for @esa at @stsci

And I hope to increase visibility of #WomenInSTEM & #LGBTQinSTEM #BiInSci

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #WomenInScience

So my advice to become a scientist is:

Seek strong mentorship/advocates
Don't let anyone tell you that you don't belong
Follow YOUR passion

I'm a first generation student, bisexual woman in science, I didn't think that I could make it BUT I did & now you can too