Baldwin senior collaborates on astrophysics and metallicity research at Pitt

Eighteen-year-old Mariah Jones has a passion for science.

“Astronomy has been a keen interest of mine for many years now; I have always had a fascination with the exploration of the universe and have decided to pursue a future career in astrophysics,” the Baldwin High School senior said.

High school principal Mr. Tomaszewski learned of Jones’ ambition and suggested she reach out to astronomy and physics faculty at local universities to see if they had any research opportunities for high school students.

Dr. Brett Andrews, a research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, invited Jones to collaborate on a project.

“We are studying the relationship between the mass of the stars in a galaxy and its metallicity (heavy element content). My role specifically will be to test how our metallicity measurements of individual galaxies from spectroscopy compare to combined observations of similar mass galaxies,” Jones said. “This will be an important test of whether our results for individual galaxies are biased due to not being able to detect the spectral features in some galaxies.”

Jones’ time at Baldwin High School has prepared her for the opportunity to apply her knowledge.

“Last school year, I took AP computer science principles, which is a foundation class that teaches the basics of coding. This has been very beneficial. Though I’m having to learn how to code and undergoing a semi-intense boot camp on the topic, I already have a general understanding of the processes,” she said.

Jones is eager to make the most of this opportunity.

“I am so very excited to begin this project and to work alongside Dr. Andrews, Dr. Benanson and undergrad Zachary Lewis,” Jones said.