Grad student drawn to expertise and depth of research in Minnesota

World-class faculty, stars, and family bring Catherine Slaughter to CSE

There are many reasons to study the cosmos—and one of them, according to Catherine Slaughter, is to gain perspective. 

“It’s really important that we have a sense of our place in space and understand the scale to which some of these things exists around us,” said Slaughter, a Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) and a recipient of the Edward P. Ney Graduate Student Fellowship in Astrophysics. 

Slaughter studies RR Lyrae. These stars ability to expand and contract over time means researchers can use it to measure distances and, ultimately, explain how galaxies form.

Last year, she developed a process to more reliably identify RR Lyrae with the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Her faculty advisor Evan Skillman was among five CSE professors awarded competitive telescope time after the JWST was launched.

“I was drawn to the variety of research offered at the U of M, and all the faculty here are world class,” said Slaughter, who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. “Plus, Minneapolis is a cool city. My dad is from the area originally, and my grandma still lives here.”

Learn more about her grad research experience in the video below. 

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