Wonder Woman of the Week: Amber Straughn

The Wonder Woman this week should make up for the missed spotlight last week. She’s a budding physicist with a way for words. This week’s spotlight commonly captivates audience with lectures on astrophysics and the behavior of galaxies. She’s a NASA scientist, an expert on black holes, and a guest lecturer on the subject of galaxy mergers. The Wonder Woman of the Week is Doctor Amber Straughn.

Physicist Amber Straughn grew up in a small town in Arkansas where the night sky captivated her imagination. Straughn attended college at the University of Arkansas where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Science for physics. Straughn then went on to obtain her Masters of Science in physics from the Arizona State University and her Ph D in physics from the same university. [1]

After receiving three straight degrees in physics, Dr. Amber Straughn became a career astrophysicist working for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She later served as the Deputy Project Scientist for James Webb Space Telescope Communications and Outreach- which is a technical way of saying she went from working for a boss to becoming a boss. Since Straughn was a freshman in college, she was conducting NASA experiments including flying an experiment on NASA’s KC-135 (aka the “vomit comet”) in 2001. [2]

Dr. Amber Straughn’s research focuses on the birth of stars and the behavior of galaxies. Straughn has access to the Hubble Space Telescope for her research which includes studying the way black holes bend light due to their immense mass. If all of this seems complicated, that’s because it is. A simplified explanation of Straughn’s job is that the physicist uses a powerful telescope to discover and observe the behavior of galaxies, the life cycle of stars, and the influence of black holes. [3]

Young girls and boys who stare up at the night sky have Dr. Amber Straughn to thank. Straughn looked at the same night sky as a child and pushed herself to gain a career where she could be paid to do what she always loved. Dr. Straughn thrust herself through three degrees in physics then went almost immediately into a position of authority at NASA. Straughn proves that even a young girl from an Arkansas farming town can grow up to reach the stars.

“People.” 2016. NASA.gov. Accessed 24 February 2016. http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/meet-straughn.html

“NASA astrophysicist, Dr. Amber Straughn, talks to CreativeMornings/DC about designing at the extremes to build the world’s biggest space telescope.” 26 July 2013. Creative Mornings. Accessed 24 February 2016. https://creativemornings.com/talks/amber-straughn/1

Straughn, Dr. Amber. “Research.” 2016. AmberStraughn.com. Accessed 24 February 2016. http://www.amberstraughn.com/research/