I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. After attending a science summer camp, I fell in love with space after looking through a telescope for the first time as a kid. After that, I made it my mission to pursue astronomy as a career. Through public speaking, math olympics and science fair competitions during my studies at Colegio Congregación Mita, I made sure to learn as much as I could to be able to pursue this career. My senior year of high school I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Arecibo Observatory Space Academy at the Arecibo Observatory, which launched my career in astronomy. After realizing that there were no universities in Puerto Rico that offered a degree in astronomy at the time, I decided to apply to colleges in the continental US.

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In my journey to study astronomy, I landed in Maryland where I have pursued all of my higher education. I graduated with my bachelor's degree in astronomy and a minor in planetary science from University of Maryland, College Park, and I am currently pursuing my PhD in the Department of Earth & Planetary Science at Johns Hopkins University. Before starting my PhD, I was a post-baccalaureate researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I also have had a plethora of research experiences throughout my education including NASA, Carnegie Institution for Science, Harvard University and abroad in Berlin, Germany.

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I primarily study exoplanets, which are planets around other stars. I am very interested in interdisciplinary work bringing planetary science, geology, astronomy and related fields together to be able to fully characterize exoplanets. When looking for exoplanets, we need to understand the full picture and being able to study how a planet evolves over time and the interactions between the interior and the atmosphere of a planet lets us get a better sense of what we should expect to see when observing their atmospheres using telescopes like JWST. 

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Outside of science, I enjoy knitting, doing yoga, hiking and relaxing with a nice scented candle and music.  I also play the trombone and have been playing since I was 9 years old!