GIANNINA GUZMAN CALOCA

About Me

Scientists are not one-dimensional

If you're only interested in my research/work then check out this section

I. Puerto Rico, Family

I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico an only child to 2 very loving, self-sacrificing parents. From my childhood I can recall many things, but I particularly rememeber a car ride when I was very young and I asked my parents why the sky was blue. My mom and dad decided to try and explain Rayleigh scattering to me and although I understood barely anything they said, it made me feel like there was so much more left for me to learn and I found that exciting. It is that wonder, that ambition to learn more, that has propelled me to where I am today. Yet, this also meant that I would end up moving far away from my island. As a Puertorican, it is very difficult to move away from the island. There isn't a day when I don't miss the food, the music, the beach, Viejo San Juan, the people... ya hasta los tapones en la Baldorioty me hacen falta! But I also could not be more happy to be carrying my island's name with pride as I accomplish everything I've set out to do. People who know me know I take any opportunity to show off my culture, in the end yo soy Boricua aunque naciera en la luna y la mancha de plátano nadie me la quita!

II. Performance Arts

If there is something I've been involved throughout my whole life and that I'm also passionate about is dancing, singing, and acting. I trained in classical ballet for 14 years, jazz and contemporary for 10 years, and for 4 years learned hip hop after I joined an all-styles dance crew in my undergraduate institution called The Superlative. I've been classically trained in singing for several years. I participated and competed for what we call 'oratoria' back at home (forensics speech competitions), as well as participated in several acting training programs including a scolarship to go to LA to work with some notable talent agents. I was part of the cast for two plays while at Villanova, and was also casted for a musical at GSFC (although it had to be cancelled due to the current global pandemic). Performing arts have always been my solace and my escape when I'm overwhelmed with emotions, and they have always formed a huge part of my life and consequently a part of who I am today. I could not imagine a world where I don't continue to sing, to dance, to act...

III. Favorites

Favorite Foods : coconut breaded chicken, queso frito
Favorite Drinks : PINK DRINKS, water, matcha latte
Favorite Dessert : tres leches
Favorite Song : El Wanabi by Fiel a la Vega
Favorite Artist : Stray Kids
Favorite animals : thresher sharks and seals
Favorite videogame : Fallout 4
Favorite videogame console : Gamecube
Favorite place traveled : Patagonia, Chile

Favorite Fish ?????? : Arapaima

Arapaima!!!

Finally, if you've read this far , then you've earned a picture of Rover:

Research

NASA ADS LINK TO AUTHOR:

ADS LINK

Education:

I obtained my B.S. in Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences at Villanova University, along with a minor in Physics, and a minor in Communications. I obtained my M.S. in Astronomy at University of Maryland, College Park.

Research Interests:

As a graduate student, I am constantly building collaborations. Yet my biggest interest lies in exoplanet observations, data reduction, and atmospheric characterization utilizing transmission spectroscopy. I'm interested in planets that have no Solar System analogs, especially in parameter spaces that are not well explored and characterized yet, as well as the effects of photochemistry in planetary atmospheres. There are 3 questions that I think would make for some extremely interesting research:

• What can studying sub-Neptune and super Earth atmospheres tell us about aerosol presence, atmospheric evolution, and planetary formation?
• What degeneracies in transmission spectra arise from disconnects between model complexity and observational accuracy?
• Are Super Earths a seperate population from sub-Neptunes? How can understanding sub-Neptunes and super Earths, aerosol formation, and observational systematics inform our future works on atmospheric biosignatures.

For a more technical breakdown of my previous research check out my CV :)

As a post-bac at Goddard Space Flight Center, I had the chance to work with the Planetary Spectrum Generator ( PSG ) team. I worked on developing methods for exoplanetary retrievals in order to apply them to PSG. Specifically, I developed a grid-based forward model algorithm (in C) as well as well as tested various different parameter space samplers for both efficiency and accuracy. In the end, I tested two different, published, grids (one for hot jupiters and the other for rocky exoplanets ) against the algorithm, as well as completed retrievals with synthetic data to test the accuracy of the different parameter space sampling methods we chose to study. This project was presented as a directorate-wide presentation at GSFC, and a YouTube link to the presentation can be found here

Lastly, I must mention a listed n-author publication in my CV that might seem surprising: "Technological and Mediated Identity in American Multisite Churches". Although I do not offer an in depth description of this project in my CV, this project was a semester-long research project for which I was invited to collaborate on the publication by my professor. This was due to my satisfactory work on the class project during the semester. The course, called "Religion and Media", was taught by a visiting research faculty in the Communication Department. I took the class as part of my requirements for my communication minor, and during said class we had to work on a case-study project surrounding the online vs. offline performances of multimedia churches. This included doing extensive background research on a specific local multimedia church (in my case it was EPIC of Philadelphia) and culminated with a personal visit to a service of said church. We then were asked to write up the entirety of the research we did that semester, and in the end my professor ended up contacting me asking if I wanted to be part of the paper. It was an extremely interesting case study and I learned a lot from it and from working with my professor.

I am particularly proud of this project because it was not in my comfort zone, it didn't pertain to the field I work in everyday, but I still put a lot of work into that project and that work paid off. It also shows that when I did my minor in communication I really did have interest in the field, and ultimately what I learned from the field of communication still forms a large part of how I rationalize science communication and outreach. I particularly enjoy studying science communication from an angle of public relations, and I'm very happy about the fact that I had the opportunity to publish within the field of communication too.

Community

Teaching:

Outreach and Volunteering:

From a theoretical standpoint, I'm very interested in approaching science communication as a public relations issue. Yet, in practice I personally tend to gravitate towards a hands-on and personalized approach, simply because I like forming personal bonds with people. My focus often has been dedicated to programs that interact directly and personally with the public. Some examples of programs I have successfully volunteered for and participated in are:

• All Hands-On Science : a program that ran at Villanova University for various years. Every Friday we would visit the Wissahikon Boys and Girls CLub to work on hands-on science experiments with the kids in order to get them excited about science as a subject and future career path. Working with those kids was so fun and also very eye opening to the fact that from a very young age, many of these kids already have the erroneous idea in their heads that they're 'not smart enough' to do science. This program was made in hopes we could help alleviate some of those insecurities by showing them hands-on approaches to science and making it fun for them.
• Skype a Scientist : this program is dedicated to families, schools, and individuals that sign up and are interested in asking a scientist questions about something interesting or just chatting with a real scientist. One memorable class I met was from the Dominican Republic and I got to talk about what I do in Spanish, which was very very fun and not something I get to do everyday.
• AbGradCon2022 Organizing Committee : AbGradCon is a conference designed by graduate students, for graduate students, and funded by NASA. Since astrobiology is an interdisciplinary field, this conference is dedicated to connecting graduate students who are enthusiastic about astrobiology, encouraging future collaboration, enthusiasm, and connections within the field.

Media:

As both a lifetime performer and also a communication minor, I can say that engaging with the media is always a fun experience for me. During my project with astrobotany on Martian regolith simulant, my mentor and I got to receive a lot of media attention. This included several interviews for magazines, blogs, etc. as well as some fun photoshoots. Some notable media engagements I've had include:

• Telemundo's Mujeres Imparables Interview
• WHYY Radio Interview about the Martian regolith simulant astrobotany experiment
• NASA's Undergraduate Research Associate in Astrobiology 2018 Cohort
• Villanova Magazine's Feature Article: "Mars: fertile ground?"
• 1 Million Women in STEM Campaign

Contact

• Twitter
• YouTube
• Instagram
• GitHub

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