Innovative astronomer, newbb电子平台 alumnus instills lessons for Class of 2020

The Class of 2020 finally got an in-person commencement ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. 毕业典礼的演讲人是校友. 基思·霍金斯, BS ’13, who encouraged students to follow three lessons: find your passion even if it comes from an unlikely place; seize all opportunities you can; and achieving dreams takes hard work, 失败, and also necessitates the support of loved ones and mentors that can make the difference. 

“I’m deeply honored by the opportunity to give a commencement address,霍金斯说. “It was 真的 honoring to be able to come back to my alma mater and be a part of that ceremony. It was very unique and I’m glad that a lot of the students got a chance to come back and finally be able to celebrate their hard work. 能和他们一起庆祝，我高兴极了.” 

Hawkins graduated from newbb电子平台 in 2013 from the 荣誉导师学院 (HTC), 获得了天体物理学学士学位, 辅修数学和非洲研究. 他也是一个 戈德华特学者 还有一个 邓普顿学者. 2018年，他获得了 查尔斯·J. 平和克莱尔O. 平应届毕业生奖. 

Hawkins is currently an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin and is well known for his research in galactic archaeology, which focuses on exploring the formation and evolution of the Milky Way galaxy. 

导师为你铺路

His journey to OHIO started before he was even a junior in high school. In high school, he entered several projects in science fairs around the world. 在一个集市上, 他的项目由Markus Boettcher评判, 俄亥俄州的前物理学和天文学教授. Hawkins asked him if he could research that summer at OHIO to learn more about astronomy, but no program existed for sophomores – so Boettcher opened his home to Hawkins to let him explore astronomy for two months. 

After his graduation from OHIO, he attended Cambridge University as 英国马歇尔学者, and earned his doctorate in astronomy in just under three short years. He was hired onto the faculty at UT Austin a few months after completing his degree, and was one of the youngest professors of astronomy in the world. 

Hawkins credits many OHIO faculty and staff members as being mentors to him. “It 真的 does take a village,他说, in terms of support. 
 

当他第一次看到剑桥大学的时候, some people told him they were doubtful of future success due to the shorter timeframe of the doctorate program. 然而, 他的教授的建议, current OHIO Vice President for 研究 and Creative Activity Joseph Shields, 让他相信自己做了正确的选择. 

我毕业后，乔·希尔兹告诉我, that there are many paths to success and that it was okay that I wasn’t going down the traditional path of a five-to-six-year Ph.D. ”霍金斯回忆说. “他的建议, 在许多成功的道路上, 真的 helped me visualize that there was more than one path.” 

He also is thankful for the mentorship of Distinguished Professor Dr. 大卫·德拉博尔德 物理天文学系, who was Hawkins’ director of studies while in HTC, and helped tutor him in physics. 他也感谢卡里·弗里思, then the assistant dean of HTC and now chief of staff to the executive vice president and provost, who coached him on how to win nationally competitive awards. 

霍金斯也来自一个大家庭, 但是强调了他的妈妈, 爸爸, 还有他的双胞胎兄弟，感谢他在事业上的进步.

“我的职业道德来自我父亲，逻辑来自我母亲, 我很幸运有他们这样的父母,霍金斯说. “My twin brother also helped propel me further a lot and kind of pushed me to be better, 不仅作为一个科学家，而且作为一个人.” 

学生们:参与其中，领略雅典之美

在城里参加2020届毕业典礼的时候, 霍金斯非常喜欢与他的导师们重新建立联系, as well as getting to see the beauty of 雅典 again and meeting several HTC and 文理学院 astrophysics majors. 

“能有这样的机会真的很棒，”他说.

作为一名学生, Hawkins routinely cycled the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway from 雅典 to Nelsonville, 他要去哪里吃点东西然后再回去. 这是他在俄亥俄州最难忘的回忆之一. Hawkins encourages all OHIO students to get out into the community of 雅典, 不仅仅是城市, 但县城真正探索它的美丽. He also said “there 真的 is something for everyone” when it comes to extracurriculars. 

“我参加过《newbb电子》, 反对社会种族主义的学生教学, 那群人成了一群很好的朋友,他说. “我交了很多一辈子的朋友. I had access to hiking and biking trails in 雅典, which was incredible. 课堂之外, those were some of my best experiences – being out in nature with friends and being able to explore 雅典 as a whole, 文化和美.” 

目前的研究工作

Some of Hawkins’ current work at UT Austin is tied back to the research he started while an undergraduate at OHIO. 他的毕业论文研究了超高速恒星, which are fast-moving stars that can move from five to six million miles per hour, 试着找新的. 他目前的拨款也在研究同样的问题, 但是使用化学标签, which uses the chemical inventory of stars to tag where they were created, 他读研究生时学的是什么.

As a twin, it is also fitting that he has studied twins stars, 2019年的发现 that they do share identical chemical inventories and a similar overall history.
 

“[Galactic archaeology is] kind of like DNA mapping for human beings,霍金斯说. “We’re trying to use the chemistry of the star as its DNA to say, ‘This star came from this place’ and ‘That star came from this place over here.“如果我们对银河系中的所有恒星都能做到这一点, then we can backtrack how stars have migrated and how the galaxy has assembled itself over time.”

For students interested in astronomy or galactic archaeology as an undergraduate at OHIO, 霍金斯鼓励他们学习, 包括科普和同行评议的文章, 并找到可以一路帮助他们的导师. 

“总的来说，天文学激励着人们. 我们总是问这样的问题:‘我们从哪里来? 我们为什么在这里?’ Questions that have been asked since the dawn of humanity, 真的,霍金斯谈到了这一领域的重要性. “And those type of questions 真的 inspire people to go into science, 即使它不是天文学, 但是总的来说，科学.” 

For those that missed Hawkins’ speech, it can be viewed in the 2020届毕业典礼录音.