CGEST Staff
- Apr 27, 2021
- 4 min read

Staff Spotlight: Christine O'Donnell

Ah April! Here we are a full third of the way into 2021 and it is once again time for another staff spotlight! This month we asked Christine O'Donnell if she would do us the honor of sharing a little bit about herself with all of you.

Christine is a Postdoctoral researcher here at CGEST who has been with us for almost a full school year now. She has been absolutely instrumental in the CompuGirls Hawaii program especially with writing curriculum, facilitating professional development sessions with the Mentor Teachers, assisting our students with learning all the fun and interesting new technologies that there is to offer, and all while conducting research to advance women and girls of color in technology. What can't this postdoc do?!

Christine has a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Arizona and a Master of Public Policy from the Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy at the University of Virginia where she co-authored this policy analysis: Women in Physics: Reducing the Gender Gap at the College Level. (So cool!) She has been a teaching assistant, presented on making science personal at various institutions, and is a part of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Task Force here at ASU. Talk about a resume! This woman is well-rounded and is always making progress and doing research for the greater good.

Now that you know the synopsis of her resume, let's learn some things that aren't on her resume.

Home state:

Originally Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC

Top Three Life Highlights:

Adopting my cat, Misty.
Experiencing a total solar eclipse (which I’ve done twice - in John Day, Oregon, USA in August 2017 and from Vicuña, Chile in July 2019).
Astronomy & Astrophysics Ph.D. program at the University of Arizona - This was a big move for me (leaving the East Coast). I got into a bunch of maker/crafter-y hobbies like glassblowing, leatherworking, chain maille, and knitting/crocheting while in Tucson, AZ because there are awesome local communities. Also, my Ph.D. program was fairly flexible, so I had a chance to explore my (academic) interests - in astronomy and beyond - while also figuring out where I wanted to go with my career.

What inspires you?

Getting the chance to do something “new” - whether that’s travel somewhere new, eat (or cook) a new food, learn a new craft, develop a new technique for science education.

Passions

Professionally, I am passionate about trying to understand the Universe and sharing that knowledge with others. Personally, I’m passionate about art, cooking/baking, and volunteering (especially with animal rescue organizations).

What is something that you learned recently?

I recently (yesterday) learned of a new estimate using data from the Kepler Space Telescope that on average, one out of every three Sun-like stars in our Galaxy should have a planet like Earth within their star’s “habitable zone” (typically defined as the region around the star where liquid water can exist based on the star’s radiation and other factors). This estimated rate is a crucial piece of information to how astronomers think about the likelihood of there being other (intelligent) life in the Universe, and the fact that it is so high (one out of three!) is really exciting. Of course, there are still lots of hurdles to actually finding alien life - simply being habitable doesn’t mean there’s life, and distances in the Universe are vast - but it’s a really intriguing result!

What is the best thing about your job?

I’ve enjoyed being a part of the CompuGirls Hawaii: Cybersecurity program and sitting in on our Saturday sessions with the learners in Hawaii. It’s really exciting to watch them engage with each other and our activities.

What has been one of your proudest moments at CGEST?

For the Spring 2021 CompuGirls Hawaii: Cybersecurity program, I developed two interactive Python notebooks that guided the participants through “coding experiences” - since our later activities involve programming skills, I designed these notebooks as a first introduction to Python programming (with optional challenge activities for participants who already have coding experience). These notebooks worked really well, and the participants responded really positively to them!

What has been the most impactful tech innovation you use in your everyday life?

Probably the Internet, especially since I started my position at CGEST last fall (August 2020) in the midst of the COVID pandemic. I still don’t have an office at ASU and have been working from home, which wouldn’t be possible without the Internet.

I am committed to advancing equity for women of color in STEM because...

STEM shouldn’t be an option available to only some individuals based on their luck to be born to the right individuals in the right place at the right time. I am committed to transforming STEM education so that everyone has opportunities to learn about the Universe through all different ways of knowing and understanding.

Christine has a passion for understanding how the Universe works and that dedication and drive shines through in all her work with our programs and inspires our CompuGirls to keep learning and making observations about the world around them as well. We are so lucky to have Christine on our team, she has truly made out program soar into the galaxy.

Thank you Christine for taking the team to share a little bit more about you with all of us!