Peter-Hirata family sans cats, July 2015, Edmonds, WA. Photo courtesy of Eli Peter.
Short academic history (my space-time trajectory): I grew up in grey, green, suburban Seattle. I was a commuter student at the University of Washington, earning bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy in 2002. My PhD thesis at Princeton University predicted experimental signatures of dark matter captured to the solar system by gravitational slingshot or nuclear scatter. I spent almost six years in California at Caltech and UC Irvine before moving to central Ohio.
You can find my publications via INSPIRE, ORCID, or Google Scholar.
Fun facts
- Sibling count: 3
- Cat count: 4
- Kid count: 1
- First coding class: AMATH 301 in college. Actually a scientific computing class, at the time taught in MATLAB. I had no idea that coding would be such a big part of my career, but this class made me fall in love with the power of numerical solutions to interesting problems. Lesson learned: you do not have to be a code wizard in high school for coding to be a significant part of your work life.
- Favorite hobby: reading, Duolingo
- Favorite city: London
- Favorite trees: tall evergreens. Better yet: evergreen rain forests.
- Favorite Star Trek novel: Spock’s World by Diane Duane
- Favorite Star Trek series: Deep Space Nine
- Most mind-blowing novel read to date: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
- The books that opened my mind about history: Wild Swans by Jung Chang, 1491 by Charles C. Mann, Sons of Conquerors by Hugh Pope. This was just the beginning. I have read a lot of great books since then that have really expanded my mind.
- Work that opened my mind about race in America: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy Macintosh. The social media work of several of my Black and Latinx colleagues has continued to challenge my suburban-white-girl frame of mind, inspired me to read and learn more, and made me think and act to change my field and environment for a better future.
- Most life-altering podcast series to date: Hidden Brain. Cannot recommend it strongly enough.
- Favorite childhood TV show that remains relevant to my life today: Square One TV
- Favorite LA-area restaurants that are still (maybe?) open: Jitlada, Palms Thai (go for the Elvis impersonator, stay for the great food), Northern Chinese Restaurant (in Rosemead), Mediterranean Cafe, Nirvana, The Luggage Room, 101 Noodle Express, 21 Choices. We loved Chung King and the little sushi place in Sierra Madre that sold Star Trek-themed sushi, but sadly, neither is around anymore.
- Favorite Columbus restaurants: Amul, Bamboo Cafe, Dosa Corner, Aladdin’s, Northstar Cafe, Jiu Thai, Tensuke Express, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Columbus has a surprisingly good food scene.