Erin Macdonald (@drerinmac) joined RealScientists in October and is an astrophysicist, technical consultant and aerospace engineer. Erin began by sharing some of her cool school experiences
The @GrnBnkTelescope is in W Virginia, and it is HARD to get to. You see it over the hills, but you keep driving, and it STILL gets bigger! It is the largest steerable radio telescope in the world. Also in a radio quiet zone, meaning no phones, and limited tech. pic.twitter.com/RUivdubF2D
— Katie / @RealScientists (@realscientists) October 2, 2017
Also this amazing moment which upon reading, made me do an audible “holy [expletive]”
Epilogue: I finally met @TheKateMulgrew this year, and asked her to sign my thesis. I was overwhelmed. She was overwhelmed. It was awkward but beautiful. I wish I had been able to relay this all to her, but I hope she knows. #WomenInSTEM pic.twitter.com/GdmBy2mwm0
— Katie / @RealScientists (@realscientists) October 3, 2017
And Erin was also lucky enough to be holding the reins during the Nobel Prize announcement, which is cool because OMG SHE USED TO WORK ON THE THING THAT WON
…everyone who works (and worked) in #LIGO is walking a little taller today. The discovery is monumental, and now more people are aware of it, regardless whose name is on the award. pic.twitter.com/iBPXXzGfKD
— Katie / @RealScientists (@realscientists) October 3, 2017
Thanks to Erin for completing our post-curation interview-
In general terms, how did you find your week as a curator?
Overwhelming, but positive!
It can be a shock talking to so many. Did you find the sudden rush of interactions (good and bad) daunting?
The rush of interactions was good, but it was a big time commitment to do it correctly!
What were the highlights? Were there any lowlights?
Highlights were when I was telling stories about my career experiences and choices, particularly the discussion on postdocs, and it seemed to resonate with a lot of people. The only lowlight was occasionally I felt that what I was trying to say did not come across well, and was misinterpreted.
Is there anything you wanted to get out of / do on the RS account that you didn’t manage to fit in?
I wanted to have more discussions about public outreach and my work with teaching science through popular culture, but there wasn’t enough time.
Did you have a plan? If so, did you stick to it?
I did! I wanted to have a different theme every day, and for the most part I was able to do that. I also decided to do some #SpaceInspires posts during my “World Space Week” day, that then carried on through the rest of the week, as it was fun for me and seemed to resonate.
Do you have any tips or advice for future RS curators?
Come up with a theme for each day before the week starts. Some days will work out better than others, but at least you’re not left wanting! Also, don’t underestimate how much time it takes when you get into a discussion with people.
What other people or accounts should people follow if they enjoyed your tweets this week?
@MarsCuriosity, @StarTalkRadio, @NASAJuno, @NASANewHorizons, @NASA
Thanks once again Erin from all of us here at RealScientists HQ. If you missed anything from Erin’s week, the tweets are all collated at the following link.