Field
Location (during time of takeover)
School/Institution
| Undergrad | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Physics |
|---|---|
| PhD | University of Chicago Astronomy & Astrophysics |
Featured on June 16, 2024
With her eyes trained at the stars, this week’s Pinoy Scientist is Hillary Diane Andales, a passionate science communicator and incoming PhD student at the University of Chicago.
Hillary is best known for her participation in the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, ranking 3rd out of 6,000 in 2016 and winning first place out of 11,000 entries in 2017 with her video on relativity. She joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating last year with a major in Physics, minor in Astronomy and Science, Technology, and Society (STS). She has also participated in a number of research projects in both astrophysics and physics education at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and the MIT Edgerton Center, respectively. Her current work explores the formation of neighboring ultra-faint dwarf galaxies using computer simulations.
At the moment, Hillary is about to start her PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. She is also a prominent science communicator, claiming more than 8 million views for her work and numerous invitations to speak at venues across the globe.
Some fun facts about Hillary:
- She once saw a moonbow at the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, Spain! Unlike a regular rainbow which is produced by sunlight, a moonbow is produced by moonlight and is a much rarer phenomenon.
- K-pop changed her life because it got her into dance, teaching her a lot about confidence. She learned her first choreography in 2018: Russian Roulette by Red Velvet. The most recent choreo she has learned is Armageddon by aespa.
- Not a super fun fact, but she almost died because of Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013. After the storm surge filled their one-story house with water within 3 minutes, they held onto their roof for hours before the water subsided. Thankfully, she and her family were unharmed, but knowing that better science and risk communication could’ve saved lives and mitigated the damage, she became interested in communicating science. Now, her goal is to share both the wonder and life-saving value of science with everyone.
