Mentorship and Outreach

Despite the way that history is often written, innovations in physics are almost never the result of insights by one person alone, but a result of collaboration, teaching, and mentorship. Dig deeper into the history of physics and you’ll find that many landmark discoveries were made simultaneously and independently by physicists across the globe, or jointly by multiple scientists each contributing one essential piece of a puzzle. This is because sometimes the field is naturally ripe for a certain discovery to be made, building on the generations of previous work by usually unrecognized scientists who placed block after block to create a structure that has finally reached sufficient height to allow us to glimpse the next idea.

Not only do we benefit from the work of other scientists, we learn and are inspired by mentors and by exposure to the words of those who reach out and share the excitement of science with the world. For most of us, mentorship and outreach are a central part of our experience getting into the field, but not everyone has been lucky enough to connect with a mentor who can guide and inspire them. Several mentors have been instrumental in my own scientific development, and I want to give back to our community while also making it more accessible. Moreover, these efforts should be a part of all of our collective job as working scientists. The initiatives below describe some of the ways I try to pitch in on this group effort.

  • MIT UROP undergraduate research neutrinos sgellerphysics

    MIT UROP Program

    MIT is full of awesomely talented undergrads who participate in research with grad students, post-docs, and faculty through the UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program). I was fortunate to take part in this program as an undergraduate and now to mentor a few students through UROPs on some exciting projects in cosmology. Check out their work! (This photo is of the floor art installation beneath the Center for Theoretical Physics, designed by artist Sol LeWitt)

  • Graduate applications MIT physics, GAPS, workshop, sgellerphysics, mentor

    Graduate Apps and Professional Strategies

    I co-created and began teaching the “Filling the GAPS: Graduate Applications and Professional Strategies” workshop at MIT after taking a class offered by Diane Rigos and Anna Frebel on Leadership and Professional Strategies for graduate students and post-docs. In taking the course, I realized just how many important professional skills that we need to succeed in a career in science are not taught during scientific training and that this education is needed even earlier—at the undergrad level: “Filling the GAPS” is the first step towards a solution. A course for MIT undergrads in physics who want to move on to graduate school.

  • Skype a Scientist!

    Through the Skype A Scientist program, I am matched with classrooms across the United States to speak with students in elementary, middle, or high-schools about physics. This outstanding program helps to connect young academics with kids and teens who can ask questions about their interests in science and get to hear about some of the hot-topics in physics research!

  • Binary Black Holes, merger, gravitational waves, sgellerphysics

    Directed Reading Program

    The MIT Directed Reading Program is run over the January semester —IAP or Independent Activities Period— in which undergraduates are paired up with a PhD student mentor to learn about a particular topic of interest and write a short talk on what they have learned. As of January 2023 my student, April Cheng, is doing a cool project on gravitational waves including the signal that results from two inspiralling black holes. (photo credit: C. Henze/NASA Ames Research Center)

  • Boston Science Museum

    The Boston Museum of Science , located just half a mile or so down the river from the MIT campus, is a great place to explore science at all levels. I recently took part as a local woman scientist in the “MOS Women’s History Month” event, in which I and some fellow Grad women in Physics from MIT led a demonstration table on filtered light and how we use it to learn about the universe! I look forward to future volunteer opportunities at MOS!