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Stephanie Douglas
I study: “Broadly, my research aims to figure out how old isolated stars are.”
Why: “Stars like the sun and smaller stars live for a very long time, and their temperature and brightness are stable for billions of years. That’s helpful for developing life, but it makes it hard to tell how old a random star is. However, stars spin fast when they’re young and slowly when they’re old, and there’s a hope that we can use rotation to tell how old stars are. However, this evolution is complicated and doesn’t just follow a simple linear decline. So really, I’m trying to understand what causes the star to spin more slowly with time, and what complicates that spin-down process.”
Ready for fall: “My department chair and I found these little cardboard and plastic telescopes that the students can build. So we’re going to send those to them so that they can go out and look up at the sky.”
In my (virtual) classroom: “One of the things I did as a grad student and a postdoc was around inquiry-based learning and active learning techniques, and I’m excited to apply those ideas online.”
Moment of zen: “I’ve been enjoying the rapid improvement in online board games—it’s actually made it easier to have game nights with some of my friends.”
What do love about Lafayette? “I attended a small liberal arts college, so I’m excited to be back in an environment that’s focused on student-centered learning and research with undergraduate students. I’m looking forward to meeting my students and getting to know the physics majors.”
What do you like about Easton? “I haven’t gotten to explore much so far, besides a few trips to campus. But I like the small city atmosphere, and that there’s so much more space and green here, compared to living in big cities for the last eight years.”