For Aidan Berres, an interest in astronomy began with a fascination with the data that can reveal what is happening across the sky. At the Asteroid Institute, that curiosity grew into hands-on research experience that helped shape his path towards graduate school. Today, Aidan is an astronomy Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, focused on machine learning and galaxy surveys.

Aidan studied astronomy and physics at the University of Washington, where he became interested in using large sky surveys to study astronomical objects. He initially worked with researchers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), training machine learning models on galaxy fluxes. An astrostatistics course with Professor Mario Juric introduced him to another area of survey science: preparing for the vast amounts of Solar System data expected from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

After graduating in 2021, he joined the Asteroid Institute through Dr. Juric as a software developer, working on Orb_it, an end-to-end testing suite for open-source orbit integration software. The project gave him greater ownership of his work while developing skills in Python programming, software packaging, and GitHub workflows – offering a more open-ended view of what a career in research could look like.

One experience that stood out was attending the Asteroid Institute hackathon at the University of Washington in 2022 – his first in-person meeting with many of his colleagues since the pandemic.

“It stood out since this was the first in-person meeting after the pandemic, and I met all my colleagues and coworkers that I would only see on Zoom,” he recalls. “I got to discuss my work with others in the group and help others install and run my code, which was very helpful for its development.”

Aidan Berres collaborating with Rahil Makadia and Maria Chernyavskaya at University of Washington DiRAC during Asteroid Institute’s 2022 Spring Hackathon.

Aidan also credits Dr. Joachim Moeyens with having a meaningful influence on his experience as a researcher. Working closely with Joachim, he implemented orbit recovery code from THOR into Orb_it, meeting regularly with him and Dr. Sarah Greenstreet to discuss his progress and approaches to incorporating different orbit integrators. Their mentorship gave him an important perspective as he began considering graduate school.

Looking back, Aidan says the freedom to take on a technically challenging project gave him a clearer sense of what graduate research would entail – and the confidence to pursue it.

“I believe my time working for the Asteroid Institute heavily influenced my decision to continue doing research in Astronomy and going to graduate school,” he says.

Now a Ph.D. candidate, Aidan is once again working with galaxy data, using LSST observations to train and benchmark machine learning models. His research brings together the interests that first drew him to astronomy while building on the technical experience, independence, and mentorship he gained at the Asteroid Institute.

For students considering an internship or volunteer opportunity with B612 Foundation or the Asteroid Institute, Aidan’s advice is direct: “It is a great research experience, with great people and good work. Since they work very closely with universities and research institutions, they provide a strong connection to important people and relevant data. The non-profit aspect is also very unique, as there are not many non-profit organizations that actively do research in Astronomy.”

Connect with Aidan on Linkedin 

 

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This post is part of B612’s Community in Action series, which celebrates the interns, fellows, and volunteers who contribute to B612’s educational and scientific programs. By taking part in meaningful, real-world work, they gain opportunities to explore STEM, expand their curiosity, and connect what they have learned in the classroom with work that makes an impact.

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