Page 21 - Careers in Mathematics

Astronomer a career in this field, it was a defining moment in the journey I
have since travelled.

I enjoyed Mathematics and Physics at school and took both
When you subjects for A-levels. I flirted with many different career options,
think
not really having a clear sense of what I wanted to do – I decided
Michelle
Cosmologist
to enrol for a BSc majoring in Physics, Applied Mathematics and
you probably
Computer Science which I completed at Rhodes University. During
picture
my studies, I attended a talk about the Square Kilometre Array
Stephen
Lochner
(SKA), an international effort to build the world’s largest radio
Hawking. This telescope, with over a square kilometre (one million square
well-known
metres) of collecting area. The fact that this was going to happen
expert sets the scene for meeting Dr in South Africa was the catalysts for my career. I approached the
Michelle Lochner – an Astronomer
project team and enquired about internship opportunities –
who is a lecturer at the University of which I was most fortunate to be offered.
the Western Cape.
SKA later offered me a scholarship to continue my studies – I
“I have a distinct memory from when I
joined the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme
was about six years old, of my father (NASSP) which is a multi-institutional initiative between the
and me gazing up at the dark sky on a
University of Cape Town (UCT), North-West University and the
clear African evening with the stars
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. As part of this programme, I
shining brightly back at us. He pointed
completed my Honours in Astronomy and went on to do my
out the Pleiades, which is an open
Masters which I later upgraded to a PhD, all through UCT. I
cluster of more than 800 stars located focused my research on the application of statistics in Astronomy
about 410 light-years from earth. I
and Cosmology. Once qualified, I took up a post-doctoral
Dr beyond earth, the many questions years. I then returned to South Africa and worked as a researcher
recall my fascination with the universe
research position at University College London, where I spent two
that came to mind and the inquisitive
for the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and the
spark that lit up as I yearned to
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). As of 2020, I
understand the universe and how it
works. Whilst this was not the “aha” have joined the University of the Western Cape as a senior
lecturer, while maintaining a joint appointment with SARAO.
moment at which I decided to pursue

18 19