UC student wins national physics fellowship

This year the Department of Energy awarded 78 fellowships to students at 55 universities around the country. The fellowships allow students to get experience in a national laboratory while working toward completing their research with the mentorship of the department’s scientists.

UC student Street said she will be exploring questions surrounding dark matter. Scientists think much of the known universe is made up of dark matter, but nobody has observed it directly.

What is dark matter?

“We don’t quite know,” Street said. “We see it in the rotation curves of galaxies. We can infer it when we look through our telescopes. But we haven’t observed it directly, so there are a lot of theories surrounding it.”

Street said she is excited at the prospect of meeting scientists who share her enthusiasm.

“Working in a national lab, you have people around you that can help you understand the astrophysics or theoretical physics behind these questions,” she said.

Street said she was drawn to the problem solving that makes up so much of theoretical physics.

“The theoretical side of physics is fun. It’s a really big puzzle — and I love solving puzzles,” she said.

Street’s adviser, UC physics professor L.C.R. Wijewardhana, said dark matter is an intriguing subject for both theoretical and experimental physics.

“I think she’s very clever,” speaking about his student. “She is dedicated and organized. She has a remarkable ability to multitask. She can work on a number of projects simultaneously and be successful,” he said.

Wijewardhana credited UC physics professor emeritus Peter Suranyi for advising students such as Street who are pursuing questions surrounding dark matter.

“It’s an exciting time for her. You get a chance to expand your horizons,” Wijewardhana said.

Featured image at top: The Hubble Space Telescope captures an image of interstellar gas and dust from the Carina Nebula. Photo/NASA-Goddard