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About CUWiA
The Conference for Undergraduate Women in Astronomy (CUWiA) will be held at West Virginia University on November 1-3, 2019.
CUWiA has been formed to celebrate the women in Astronomy in West Virginia and beyond. The idea for CUWiA came about while organizers Olivia Young and Erica Chwalik were attending the 2018 APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) . Their experience was such a positive one that it set the idea in motion to start CUWiA to bring women in astronomy together to learn about research and explore career and graduate opportunities.
Meet our Organizers
Dr. Maura McLaughlin
Dr. McLaughlin is a professor and researcher at West Virginia University. Dr. McLaughlin is co-founder of the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a nation-wide program that gets middle and high school students involved in pulsar astronomy. She is also Co-Director of the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center, a collection of scientists working to use pulsars to detect gravitational waves. Dr. McLaughlin has recently been named one of Nature’s Top Ten People to Watch in 2019.
Olivia Young
Olivia Young is a Senior Undergraduate physics and astronomy major at West Virginia University. She works under Dr. Maura McLaughlin studying pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts as a NASA Space Grant Consortium Scholar, and searching for single pulses in radio data using the deep learning algorithm FETCH. She has participated in NANOGrav's IRES program, working under Dr. Mathew Bailes at Swinburne University of Technology, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's summer internship program modeling the chromspheric emissions from AGB stars. Her current work focuses on FRB periodicity searches. Olivia is a mentor in the Pulsar Search Collabratory, and an Ambassador for the WV Science Public Outreach Team.
Anna “Annie Kate” Turner
Anna “Annie Kate” Turner is a senior physics major at West Virginia University hailing from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. She is minoring in astronomy and women’s and gender studies, as well as working to obtain high school teaching certification for physics and general science. In addition to her studies, she works with Dr. Maura McLaughlin on research regarding pulsar timing. Annie Kate is expected to graduate in May 2020 and looks forward to attending graduate school in the following fall for astrophysics
Erica Chwalik
Erica Chwalik is an undergraduate student at West Virginia University pursuing their Bachelor’s degree in Physics. During their time there, they have carried out research in the field of radio astronomy under Professor Duncan Lorimer observing and studying fast radio burst data as a NASA Space Grant Consortium Scholar, as well as participating in outreach under WV Science Public Outreach Team and WVU’s Society of Physics Students. Currently, they are doing research on double neutron star formation routes under Manjari Bagchi of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences as an extension of NANOGrav’s International Research Experiences for Students program. Our Sponsors
Student Organization Partners
1. West Virginia University's Chapter of the Society of Physics Students
2. WVU Science Public Outreach Team (SPOT)