Hello, everyone! My name Melissa and I’m from Woodland Park, New Jersey. I am currently a junior at Drew University, pursuing a double major in physics and mathematics. I rarely ever leave the physics department, as I am either running a review session for the intro classes, finishing up a project in lab, or up in the observatory on Friday nights, checking in on the universe. My past two summers were spent in the Drew Observatory doing research on variable stars, so this will be the first summer since starting college that I won’t be sitting on a rooftop every night! I was just elected President of our SPS chapter for the 2012-2013 academic year, and I am thrilled to be going to D.C. this summer to work with the SPS!

When I’m not studying or working somewhere in the physics department, I am usually drawing editorials and making graphics at the office of our school’s newspaper, The Acorn, working in the school’s organic garden, making boxes for old books in the conservation offices at the library, or wandering through the shelves at the comic book store downtown. In my spare time, I like drawing and cartooning, reading, playing guitar, and hanging out with my friends.