Graduating Student Spotlight: Vadim Bernshteyn
Vadim Bernshteyn graduates this spring with B.S. degrees in Astronomy and Mathematics
As Vadim Bernshteyn prepares to graduate with his B.S. in Astronomy, he reflects on highlights from his time at Steward Observatory, including publishing a research paper in a scientific journal. Read his full interview below.
What brought you to Steward Observatory?
I first got interested in astronomy in high school, when my physics teacher decided to organize a local astronomy club. There I for the first time learned about astronomy as an actual science people pursue professionally. As it seemed to me at the time, astronomers ask questions about the Universe, find ways to answer them, and then present the answers they found to others. Naturally, I became eager to become an astronomer myself. As it comes to Steward specifically, I chose UofA because of pure chance. One day my family decided to visit the Saguaro National Park, and as we were driving through Tucson I decided, simply out of curiosity, to check out the nearby university. After a quick search I found the UofA's astronomy program, one thing leads to another, and now I am already graduating from here.
Can you describe your research and any especially interesting learning experiences you’ve had during your time here?
In my research I work with simulations tailored to the work of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration. EHT has recently produced the first-ever images of two nearby black holes: M87* in 2017, and Sagittarius A* in 2018. While precise state-of-the-art radio observations make the black hole imaging possible, we still need numerical simulations to compare them to, as this way we can actually test our current understanding of black hole physics. In my work with Dr. Chi-kwan Chan and other collaborators I study various aspects of these simulations and compare them to the real EHT data.
What's your greatest point of pride from your time at Steward?
I am proud to have been able to publish a research paper on my results in a scientific journal.
Can you share piece of wisdom from your time as an astronomy student?
I discovered that being an undergraduate student is a perfect opportunity to explore. While being a student, one can have a taste of different majors, professions, clubs, hobbies, friend groups, and so on. There are a lot of opportunities available, both on-campus and beyond, and it is worth spending time to investigate them. You never know what would turn out to be the right fit.
What’s next?
I plan to pursue a career in astronomy and become a professional researcher. For now, I am going to continue studying astronomy in a PhD program at Princeton University.
We’re excited to celebrate our students who graduated this semester. Stayed tuned for more Spotlight profiles on Steward Observatory graduates, and follow our social media channels for more insight into the lives of our students, staff and faculty.