Fashioning the Future With: Sophia Gad-Nasr

Science as a Candle in the Dark. That's the second part of the title of Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World, which was published in 1995 — but remains as applicable today as ever (maybe more). "Science as a candle in the dark" is also what we rely on now as we experience (not evenly, but still communally) the pandemic. We know the way out through this depends on science — and the proper use of it. For Style Engineers Worldwide, science as a force for good is exactly why we are always promoting STEM communicators on the blog, and why we prefer the term 'scicomm luminary' when we talk about these awesome women who work hard to share their knowledge to help brighten the world.

Phew, that's was a really long intro to say that we are extremely thrilled to have the brilliant scicommer Sophia Gad-Nasr on the blog today! She's astounding; she works in dark matter, and this post will brighten the heck out of your day! (Spoiler alert: it even has hamsters.) 

Sophia is a PhD candidate and fellow at UC Irvine where her research involves cosmology and astroparticle theory. Specifically, Sophia investigates a particular brand of dark matter called Self-Interacting Dark Matter, which we of course, asked her all about! In addition to her academic awesomeness, Sophia also has sweet Hollywood experience. She worked as the science advisor on season four of SyFy's 12 Monkeys, where you can see her rad and complex space-time related equations on screen. Nerding-out noodles, how nifty-cool is that? 

Sophia's work has been written about on Discover Magazine, Inverse, Mental Floss, Daily Dot, SyFy Wire, and more. She also has awesome experience processing planetary images. The cool points just keep on comin'! Sophia's own website blog is a scicomm treasure-trove, too.

We were thrilled to ask Sophia all about her work in dark matter, what her advice for aspiring cosmologists is, who inspires her, and more! Meet Sophia Gad-Nasr, astroparticle physicist and scicomm luminary! 

When did you first know you were a scientist?

In my heart I always knew I wanted to do something STEM related. My dad has a PhD in Applied Statistics, so as a child he would teach me math ahead of the curriculum. I loved it so much I would have him make me math tests! But I didn't know I wanted to do physics until a year after I enrolled in undergrad as an undecided major. I found an astronomy club, attended meetings and stargazing parties, and found a love for physics through my love for space. 

What first drew you to cosmology and astroparticle theory?

In my junior year, a new professor joined the faculty at my undergrad institution who was a particle theorist. When I learned he worked on dark matter, I immediately asked if I could do research with him, and he took me on. It was the best decision of my entire life, because it was through working on dark matter from a theoretical standpoint that I knew I wanted to do cosmology and astroparticle theory for my academic career!

Do you have a favorite space (or particle) fun fact you enjoy dazzling people with? 

I do, and I calculated it myself! It's about dark matter and assumes the dark matter particle is about the mass of a proton. It goes like this:

At any given moment, about 20,000 dark matter particles are passing through each and every single one of you, and you don't feel a SINGLE ONE.

What is your favorite extraplanetary object and why?

My favorite object by far is the Bullet Cluster! It's a galaxy cluster, which is essentially thousands of galaxies gravitationally bound together. But this one is very special: it's made up of two clusters that have undergone a collision, and have left behind one of the best pieces of evidence for dark matter yet. I use it as my zoom background for inspiration! 

Just slightly broader: Do you have a favorite mystery of the Universe?

It's so hard to pick one! Of course, dark matter is one of them, but I'd like to tell you about another mystery we still don't have an answer to, and that's the question of why matter won over antimatter in the early Universe. It's called baryon asymmetry. 

In physics, we expect things to be made symmetrically, so there should have been the exact same amount of matter as there was antimatter in the early Universe. But if it was, then the Universe would be full of radiation only since all matter and antimatter would have annihilated into photons (when they collide, they annihilate and release energy in the form of photons). Yet we have a Universe of matter, meaning there must've been a bit more matter than antimatter. The question is why? We don't know. And I find this so fascinating!

What is the weirdest/coolest thing about Self-Interacting Dark Matter? (Editor’s Note: You can read all about this phenomenon in Sophia’s blog post.)

Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) is a type of dark matter that actually interacts, or collides, with other dark matter particles. This differs from the standard paradigm of dark matter in cosmology, which assumes dark matter particles don't interact with one another at all. And the coolest thing about SIDM having dark matter interactions is that it requires a force we've not yet detected: a new dark force! Darth Vader much? :) 

What is your ideal career path after completing your PhD?

Ideally, I'd like to pursue academia and go onto a postdoc with the ultimate goal of becoming a professor. I love research, but also want to teach in a way that is not intimidating to students. Students often walk into physics classes with a fear instilled in them about the difficulty of what they're about to learn, and sometimes are afraid to ask questions because of that. I want to change that and make physics more approachable by focusing on the concepts and the fun parts, while showing students how to utilize math as a tool to solve problems. And since this particularly plagues women and underrepresented minorities in the field, these are the students I want to help make the field more welcoming to.

What is your personal philosophy as a science communicator?

If you can't explain it in simple terms, you don't understand it enough. And this is something I'm still working as a science communicator on today! It's so important.

How has the pandemic influenced how you participate in scicomm?

At first, the change in lifestyle came as a complete shock to me, so I distanced myself from scicomm to give myself time to adjust. More recently, it's encouraged me to participate in scicomm more, as people are looking for ways to spend all this alone time they suddenly have. In particular, I'm looking to do more videos where I talk about cool things about the Universe and throw up some exciting graphics to help people visualize the things I discuss! So I'm really looking forward to this development in the near future. 

Aside from the obvious cool factor, what was the most rewarding part about working on 12 Monkeys as the science consultant?

Undoubtedly the coolest part at first was that I got to work on the science of a TV show I loved! But ultimately, the coolest part was that what made it onto the episode I advised on was the stuff I got creative with and threw in on my own, which had to do with early Universe inflation and the multiverse. That felt fantastic.

Your rescue hamsters Gravitini and Gluini are so cute! When did you first start rescuing hamsters and what do you love most about them?

Everyone who knows me knows I adore hamsters! And it all began when my roommate in undergrad brought her friend's hamster home and told me she kept him in the closet because she got him as a birthday gift and didn't like him. I immediately asked if I could take him so I could give him a better life, and successfully rescued him! His name was Furmi (after Enrico Fermi). After him, I continued having hamster friends, but began naming them after subatomic particles! What I love about them is that they're so small but yet booming with personality. They're never the same! It's quite amazing. They live short lives but fill my life with so much joy.

Who (modern day and/or historical) inspires you?

I'm most inspired by cosmologist Katie Mack. It's really cool because we're friends and she's been amazingly supportive with guidance — but is also such an inspiration to me. She explains things effortlessly — and has a way of making things sound so amazingly cool and digestible to anyone.

What advice do you have for girls (middle and high school) who want to become astroparticle physicists?

If you want to do astroparticle physics or cosmology, if you have a passion for this stuff, then don't let anything or anyone stop you. You may hit road bumps along the way — everyone does. You may find particular topics difficult, and that's okay. Your passion will see you through. Mine did.

And by the way this advice goes for women who are older as well and think they're "too old for college" or unfit because they didn't follow the traditional path of going straight into college from high school for whatever reason. Yes, you can do this! My life didn't take me on the traditional path, and I started college later than most as well. Today I'm in my third year of my PhD and set to advance to candidacy by summer. I promise it's not too late.

Normally, we ask, ‘What are some hobbies you enjoy in your free time?’ However, given the pandemic and need for social distancing, how are you spending your free time these days? 

As a PhD student, a lot of my time is spent doing research. But when I'm not doing that, I enjoy communicating science, watching TV shows and movies (typically sci-fi and fantasy), playing video games, playing with my hamsters, going on (safe) walks, and keeping in touch with friends either through phone calls or video calls. I also have a bit more time to cook and spend time with my brother, which is wonderful!

Do you have any favorite STEM characters in books/movies/other art forms?

My favorite characters are actually fantasy characters! A couple of my favorites are Galadriel and Arwen, unsurprisingly both from Lord of the Rings (and I say unsurprisingly because I'm a mega Lord of the Rings fan!). I also love the book series Wheel of Time, and my favorite character in that book is Egwene.

If you were a superhero, what would your go-to wearable tech device be? 

If I were a superhero, my go-to tech device would be a bracelet that allows me to quantum teleport to any given place in an instant. I have to be able to make it on time to stop evil beings from destroying worlds, after all!

Where can people find you online?

My website: astropartigirl.com

Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook: Astropartigirl

YT and Patreon: To be announced (stay tuned by following me on social media!)