Chelen Johnson
Hungry Giants- WISE Excesses and Lithium Study (HG-WELS) - studying giants which may or may not be eating planets, and may or may not be ejecting enough dust as a result so as to be bright in the infrared.
The experience has and will continue to help me develop more effective uses of NASA/JPL resources for me and to promote professional development.
It was very special to be in the room when the announcement of planet Kepler 10b (an estimated 1.4 X the size of the Earth) was discovered. I turned to my student Inga and asked, "How does it feel to be one of the first people on planet Earth to know about this discovery?" She replied, "I never thought of it like that ... it's pretty cool."
I love learning about the myriad ways astronomers figure out how to make lemonade out of lemons. It almost seems like cheating sometimes, but it isn't. Astronomers are just so crafty when it comes to figuring out how to make the best use of the data they have.
