One of my passions is making science accessible to a wide range of audiences. I have created talks and hands-on activities tailored for groups from middle school students to senior citizens, adapting the level of difficulty to each audience, you can read about some of these events below. I am happy to share these materials with anyone interested and would love to connect about new outreach initiatives— please feel free to reach out!
Ann Arbor/Saline Senior Centers Talks
In 2025, I started organizing a series of presentations aimed at senior citizens from the Ann Arbor and Saline area. As of September 2025, we have done four presentations covering topics such as practical guides to stargazing and telescope use, the cosmic origin of the elements that make up our world, and the history of astronomical discoveries and methods that shaped our understanding of the universe. These events have been received with great enthusiasm, drawing engaged audiences who value opportunities to connect with astronomy, and have even been featured in the local news!
As a part of the DEI efforts in the UMich Astronomy department, I help organize activities such as lunches and talks for the networking group for spanish-speakers. We have organized a series of talks to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month at the Detroit Observatory. These talks include topics like the contributions of Latin American astronomers in the U.S., the role of Latin American observatories from ancient to modern times, and the personal journeys of Latina astronomers. For our first event, we designed a series of posters to showcase the work of Latin American women in Astronomy, which were displayed in the observatory and are currently displayed in meeting rooms at the U-M Department of Astronomy.
In early 2025, I participated in the Science Communication Fellows program at the U-M Museum of Natural History, a professional development initiative that trains researchers to effectively engage public audiences. Through a series of workshops, I learned strategies for communicating science in accessible and interactive ways, and developed an inquiry-based activity based on my research that I later presented at multiple public outreach events. My activity, Planet Factory: Ice vs. Rock, was designed to illustrate how different processes led to the formation of rocky planets and ice giants in our Solar System.
Women+ Excelling More in Math, Engineering, and the Sciences (FEMMES) is a student organization at the University of Michigan that aims to increase the number of women who pursue careers in science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM) fields. These events are aimed towards 4th - 12th grade students from underrepresented areas around Ann Arbor and Detroit. I have helped develop and implement hands-on activities related to Astronomy for five of the Explore, Connect and Advance programs in the last 3 years.
I'm an active member of the Society for Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), which is an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans, from college students to professionals, in attaining advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in STEM. I have attended the 2022 SACNAS National Diversity in Stem (NDiSTEM) Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the 2024 NDiSTEM Conference in Phoenix, Arizona as a representative of the U-M Department of Astronomy.