November 17, 2022
Dr. Olivia Harper Wilkins '15, NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will present "Astrochemical Perspectives from Interstellar and Terrestrial Laboratories".
Abstract: The matter comprising our world, including life as we know it, was seeded by simple ingredients in the interstellar medium and the early stages of the Sun’s formation. But how that chemistry evolves over millions of years in extremely cold and diffuse environments is largely unknown. This talk explores observational and experimental work, from high-resolution chemical imaging using one of the largest radio telescope observatories in the world to cosmic ice analogue experiments under ultrahigh vacuum. Specifically, observations of methanol in an interstellar laboratory—the Orion Kleinmann-Low nebula—will be discussed in the context of understanding the nebula’s physical and chemical environment. In the terrestrial laboratory at NASA, rotational spectroscopy is used to study the gas-phase sublimated photoproducts of cosmic ice analogues formed and irradiated at interstellar temperatures of 10 Kelvin. Together, these investigations demonstrate some of the ways in which astrochemistry aims to answer astronomical questions. Bio: Dr. Olivia Harper Wilkins ‘15 is a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she conducts cosmic ice experiments. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics at Dickinson in 2015, after which she spent a year in Germany as a Fulbright Research Fellow. In December 2021, Dr. Wilkins earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where she conducted observational astrochemistry research an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She was also named an ARCS Scholar (2019-2021) and a 2022 CAS Future Leader. Dr. Wilkins is passionate about science communication and using art to share science, something that culminated in her writing and illustrating Astrochemistry for the American Chemical Society’s ACS In Focus series. She enjoys traveling with her husband and son and spending time at coffee shops.
Further information
- Location: Tome 115
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Cost: Free