Allison Moffatt

Allison is currently completing her second year in the Honours Integrated Science program at McMaster University. Through her program, she has had the opportunity to complete courses in physics, chemistry, biology, and even Earth sciences! While she is highly interested in all sciences, she has always had a special passion for astrobiology, which she has explored in more detail through many facets of her life. This includes a research project she conducted investigating life on exoplanets, where she learned more about the conditions necessary to sustain life. She is additionally very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit observatories from a young age, including Maunakea, where she used a telescope for the first time. Outside of academics, a large interest for Allison rests in Science Communication. She currently holds a Science Communication role on the McMaster Interdisciplinary Satellite Team (MIST) at her university, which is credited with building McMaster’s first satellite which was launched into space last spring. Allison’s role on the team is mainly centred around the creation of blog posts related to current initiatives of MIST and breakthroughs in the wider astrophysics community. Allison is additionally taking Science Literacy courses, where she has learned more about content creation, public speaking, and research strategies for a wide range of scientific disciplines.

This summer, Allison is very honoured to work under the supervision of Dr. Nathalie Ouellette on a variety of different public outreach initiatives and projects within iREx. Next year, Allison is looking forward to completing a second astrophysics research project and applying the skills she will develop through this exciting internship opportunity.