Her name's Moiya McTier and she wears a lot of hats. She's an astrophysicist who studies planets outside of our solar system and how they're affected by the motion of the Milky Way Galaxy. She's a folklorist who specializes in building and analyzing fictional worlds. And she's a science communicator who's given hundreds of talks (including appearances on television, radio, and podcasts) about science and life in academia. She didn't grow up knowing she wanted to be an astronomer. In fact, she wasn't interested in space at all until a friend dragged her to an introductory astronomy course when she was a sophomore in college. Now it's six years later and she's soooo close to getting her PhD in astronomy, but after that, she's leaving academia.
Academia has a lot of flaws... from its false sense of meritocracy to its rampant mental health crisis to the racism and sexism that she's personally experienced. But academia is also home to a beautiful culture of (hypotheticically) open exploration and holds the tools to systematically pursue the truth. She has just learned that academia isn't for her, so she's turning to science communication, in part because she thinks she can make more of a difference as a science communicator than as a researcher.
One way she strives to make a difference is through her podcast, Exolore. In each episode, she invites expert guests to help her imagine life on an alien planet. Notice that she said "expert" and not "scientist" because life isn't just about science. She wants Exolore to showcase diverse knowledge and interests and backgrounds. She wants it to help people reflect on the nature of the world we all actually live in. And she wants it to be a potential escape for people who get overwhelmed by our reality sometimes, because she knows she does. Anyway, you can find Exolore wherever you get your podcasts, but here's a link: https://anchor.fm/exolore
You can learn more about my other work on my website http://moiyamctier.com
You can also connect with Moiya on her Twitter: @GoAstroMo
