The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association and the National Science Foundation Fuel the Future STEM Workforce

Erin Holdgate • January 9, 2023
Directors’ and Interns’ Representation at the American Astronomical Society Meeting

 

Nantucket, MA – On the occasion of the 241st American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meeting, and the 175th anniversary of the discovery of Miss Mitchell’s Comet, key directors and interns from the Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) of Nantucket Island, have journeyed to Seattle, WA to represent the MMA and present their work. Building on the legacy of Maria Mitchell, the first female American Astronomer, the Maria Mitchell Association offers STEM research and education opportunities to interns from across the country via their paid internship programs.

 

The research in astrophysics conducted by these interns while in residency at the Maria Mitchell Association will be presented at the AAS Meeting, supported in part by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Grant and the Maria Mitchell Association. The Maria Mitchell Association is actively recruiting interns for 2023 and beyond for paid positions, which includes summer housing on Nantucket Island. Over the past five years, four Maria Mitchell Association intern alumni have been awarded the prestigious Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award for their research presentations at the AAS meeting.

 

Representees include:

 

Maria Mitchell Association Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson, whose formative experience as an NSF-REU intern at the MMA helped inspire her to make a career out of her love for astronomy. Jorgenson encourages young people in STEM through the various MMA research, mentoring, and education programs, including the NSF-REU internship, a newly founded post-baccalaureate Bridge program supporting traditionally under-represetned groups in STEM, the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium, and by sharing her love of science with the public via a bi-weekly NPR radio program and local newspaper column, Looking Skyward. She is currently serving on the American Astronomical Society’s Committee of the Status of Women in Astronomy.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Director of Science & Programming, Jónelle Gurley, who studied General Chemistry with a focus in Analytical Chemistry and performed undergraduate special project research in Environmental and Organic Chemistry. This allowed her to investigate the effects of Polychlorinated Biphenyl compounds on aquatic systems while designing a natural remediation technique that had less harsh implications on aquatic environments while learning about the cultural implications and mandates of doing business in different parts of the world.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Executive Director, Joanna Roche. Roche is a business development and branding expert, with more than twenty-five years of leadership experience in executive management, marketing, and operations, she is skilled in driving financial growth and brand engagement. Her connection to nature and to Nantucket through board service to the town and the community help to guide the future of the MMA. 

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Kate Shavelle, Junior at Columbia University, studies Astrophysics and Art History. Her MMA research project tracks the merging of early galaxy clusters in a 3D simulation called IllustrisTNG. By comparing these computer-simulated objects to things in nature, she can test the accuracy of her models and better understand natural phenomena. Going forward, she hopes to use different simulations to see what can be learned about galaxy cluster mergers, and create different visualizations of the merging objects.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Anavi Uppal, Junior at Yale University, studies Astrophysics. Her research focuses on galaxy black hole evolution. When galaxies merge with each other, their central supermassive black holes combine to form one even larger black hole. If certain conditions are met, this newly-combined black hole can get kicked out of the center of its galaxy. These off-center black holes can tell us a lot about galaxy and black hole evolution, so Anavi is creating a method to automatically find them in telescope data.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Devisree Tallapaneni, Junior at Cornell University, studies Physics, Statistical Science, and Data Science in Astronomy. During the MMA REU program, she studied interstellar dust composition and distribution by looking at how dust grains alter the path of bright X-ray light. Interstellar dust, which is composed of tiny grains of carbon, silica, and other elements, is incredibly abundant in space and plays a large role in key processes like star formation, making it important for astronomers to study. 

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Will Jarvis, Senior at University of Wisconsin - Madison, studies Astronomy and Physics. Will’s research focused on understanding how galaxies form in the early universe. He did this by detecting and studying the large reservoirs of gas that fuel star formation, called Damped Lyman alpha Systems, or DLAs. DLAs are detected in absorption in the spectra of more distant quasars and for this project Will used data taken on the largest ground-based, optical telescopes in the world. After his fifth-year of university, he plans to apply to graduate school, emphasizing multi-wavelength studies of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their impact on their host galaxies.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Chris Chang, Senior at Willamette University, studies Physics with a minor in Archaeology. He developed a stellar evolution model of a multi-temperature, magnetically active star found in a unique class known as sub-subgiants. These are stars that are dimmer than both the giant and subgiant classes and redder than stars found on the main sequence. His experience at the MMA “made me realize I love astronomy and is something I want to pursue as a possible career”.

 

Maria Mitchell Association Intern Danya Alboslani, Junior at the University of Connecticut, studies Physics, Art and Astrophysics. She used 3D simulations of recurring explosions in the leftover cores of dead stars to analyze the effects that different explosion velocities have on the shape of the nova. She compared this data to observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The MMA internship helped immerse her “in research, gain important skills, and develop the ones I already had in order to become a multifaceted scientist.”

 

About the Maria Mitchell Association:


The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first American professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

 

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For Immediate Release

January 9, 2023

Contact: Erin Holdgate, Marketing Director

eholdgate@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

From The Rear

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 3, 2025
I am not so sure our founders would love that title but the image is of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO) “from the rear.” I love this image as it is really the only one we have – unless you count the one that is taken from farther away and from further into the backyard of the Mitchell House. That one allows you to see the natural slope of the Mitchell House back lawn which would be altered when they added the Curator’s Cottage. Both of the images were taken before the Curator’s Cottage was added at the back of the Mitchell House in the early 1930s – and this one you see here was taken before 1922 when they added the Astronomical Study onto the MMO. It also shows the original dome – which was copper – before it was replaced in 1951 – which is the current dome. The copper did not hold up to our climate here – salt spray, damp, fog. But the new one, shipped over from England, has held up well. The current dome was donated by Margaret Underwood Davis (MMA board president at the time), in memory of her son, Cushing Davis who was an amateur astronomer. Margaret Davis served as president from 1930-1946 and again from 1949-1953. The image tells you some other things too. For instance, the grape arbor behind the Mitchell House is supposed to be Peleg Mitchell’s (Maria’s uncle) grape vine – I have blogged about it several times before – and you can see it in this image. You can also see how the Milk Room connects to the 1850s kitchen. The 1850s kitchen was added by Peleg Mitchell Jr and it’s the first little wart you see with the white pipe attached. The next wart is the Milk Room – also added by Peleg – it’s the one with the shutters on the window. Both still exist it’s just the Curator’s Cottage was attached in the 1930s. You will see another chimney too. It appears alongside the white pipe. That is likely the original chimney to what is now the Astronomer’s Cottage at the MMA. We acquired the Cottage in the 1920s but I believe all of the additions, and the removal of the chimney, were done before we were given it.  Fun! JNLF

Stone Monument Cleaning

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 27, 2025
I have discussed the process and importance of the proper cleaning and conservation of historic stone monuments – cemetery stones – several times before in this blog. This year’s Mitchell House intern, Talia, was also (happily) last year’s intern and due to her college graduation in early June, she missed the annual workshop I have been running concerning the proper care and cleaning of stone monuments. A stone monument enthusiast, I promised Talia we would clean a stone before she left this season. Happily, we did on September 26. We returned together to clean the stone of Charlotte Burdett, Captain of Barzillai Burdett, one of my favorites. I had come across his stone accidentally when prepping to clean another stone for the workshop in June. (I test stones about a month before I clean them to make sure the cleaner will be okay and there are not any issues with it among other things I check for.) I tested the two Burdett stones and after the workshop was over, I remained in the now fairly hard rain showers to clean his stone. At that point, I was sopping wet and I told Charlotte I would return. I always feel badly when I have to return months, or a year, later to complete the stones in a lot. We made fast work of Charlotte’s stone – a little under an hour but the Burdetts’ stones are relatively small and simple. It was also a beautiful day to complete the work. The remainder of this blog will be a bit long because I wanted to share some information on Captain Burdett. He and Charlotte had no children and I have long loved their simple, small gambrel house on North Liberty (not likely a gambrel when they inhabited it). So here we go. In the history of catboats on the island, the Dauntless is my favorite catboat, likely because the owner/captain is a Nantucket “rockstar” of mine. His small gambrel roofed house still stands along North Liberty – a favorite house of mine before I learned a “rock star” inhabited it! The Dauntless was sometimes referred to as the “star boat” because a large red star was sewn on her sail. Built and captained by boatbuilder, Captain Barzillai Burdett, the Dauntless took visitors from the wharves out to the bathing beaches and on clambakes and fishing excursions, beginning in the early 1870s. Two logs of the Dauntless attest to her being a busy boat, enjoyed not only by the passengers, but by her crew as well. The logs live at the Research Library at the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA). At least one was kept by Benjamin Sharp. When he was young, he served aboard the Dauntless with Captain Burdett. Sharp would become a revered island resident. Born in 1858, Dr. Sharp, a zoologist, was a founder of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, served as Nantucket’s representative in the state legislature, and was an avid sailor and fisherman. In 1904, with Henry W. Fowler, he wrote T he Fishes of Nantucket . Times spent with Captain Burdett must have greatly influenced Sharp. One of the logs dates from July 2 through August 28, 1873, and is a daily record of fishing parties and clambakes the Dauntless provided. The log also includes the names of passengers and where they came from, as well as messages they left for Captain Burdett. Included in the log is this poem: When you go to a clambake, Plenty of chickens you should take, As then you have a second dish For those who do not like shell-fish, For all should indulge, as best they might, “The keen demands of appetite.” The log also has lots of wonderful, comical illustrations − largely drawn by Sharp. Burdett also built whaleboats during the heyday of whaling on the island. Fishing was also his economic mainstay. When summer was over, he would use the Dauntless to fish as many other catboat owners did. The tourist trade had come second to fishing and whaling on the island but, in many cases, may have made fishing secondary in income once tourism took off on island and became much more lucrative. In 1893, artist Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin (a distant cousin of Maria Mitchell’s and one of her students at Vassar), painted a lovely double portrait of Burdett and Benjamin Pease in Burdett’s shack on Old North Wharf called “A Tale of the Sea (Captain Burdett In His Boathouse).” Today, it is in the collection of the NHA. PLEASE NOTE: ONE SHOULD NEVER CLEAN THE STONES IN A CEMETERY, WHETHER THEY ARE YOUR FAMILY’S OR NOT, WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE CEMETERY SEXTANT AND HAVING BEEN TRAINED TO PROPERLY CLEAN A STONE. There are quite a few TikToks and other social media posts and people are doing the work incorrectly and damaging and further eroding the stones. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 20, 2025
1854, Oct. 23. Yesterday I was again reminded of the remark which Mrs. Stowe makes about the variety of occupations which an American woman pursues. She says it is this, added to the cares and anxieties which keep them so much behind the daughters of England in personal beauty. And today, I was amused at reading that one of her party objected to the introduction of wood floors in American housekeeping, because she could seem to see herself down on her knees, doing the waxing. Throughout Mrs. Stowe’s book there is an openness which I like, no pretense in affectation, religious cant but it is honest habit and not affectation.  While this was written many years before, Maria Mitchell and Harriet Beecher Stowe must certainly have been at least acquaintances as they shared things in common. While Beecher Stowe was not a member of the Association for the Advancement of Women, as Maria was (a founder and a term as president), her sister was actively engaged in several of the organizations that Maria was a part of and there must have been some cross-pollination there. Harriet Beecher Stowe, while working towards women’s rights, focused on slaves’ rights and was not an active member of many of the women’s organizations that her sister was a part of. Maria and Harriet shared friends and acquaintances in common and Mitchell made sure that Uncle Tom’s Cabin quickly appeared on the shelf of the Nantucket Atheneum when it was first published. JNLF
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