Prima Ballerina... & Physicist: Lauren McCarthy '08
Lauren McCarthy '08 set her sights on the stage when it came time to apply to college a few years ago. "I applied early to Barnard," Lauren says. "I was determined not to let anything get in the way of ballet."
In the late spring of 2004, Lauren graduated from New York City's Professional Children's School. The young dancer had followed a rigorous training schedule throughout high school with the ultimate goal of becoming a professional dancer. She'd hoped to find herself on stage with a company within a year of enrolling at Barnard.
Just one semester in, though, Lauren, fell in love the College and the academic opportunities she encountered. After a few months, Lauren realized how much she missed the physics lessons she'd had in high school. So by her second year, the ballerina rearranged her dance classes to accommodate the introductory sequence physics courses, consisting of mechanics and electricity and magnetism. And since attending an informational meeting for current and future physics majors in that second year, Lauren turned her sights to the stars.
"Ballet will always be a part of my life," she says, "but I am no longer on a one-way track. I have found another passion in my life that opens up endless possibilities. Ballet and physics are both very disciplined areas." Lauren points out both require steady progress to achieve results—cramming is not a study technique that works in either.
In her pursuit of physics, Lauren has made several impressive stops, including the American Museum of Natural History, Caltech, a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, and, most recently, the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Yale. In Seattle and New Haven, Lauren presented her astronomical research on brown dwarfs, otherwise known as "failed stars," that cool rapidly with time. She's studied brown dwarfs with Kelle Cruz, a post-doctoral fellow at Caltech. Kelle had worked at the American Museum of Natural History when Lauren was a second-year, and the two met at the departmental planning meeting for physics majors. It was Kelle who recruited Lauren to work with her at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium.
The two are working together again on an article about brown dwarfs that they will soon be presenting at a conference in Scotland. "I wouldn't have so many opportunities if Barnard wasn't helping me," Lauren says. The College, which has provided funding for Lauren's participation at several academic conferences, currently has 13 physics majors. "Everyone is really supportive," Lauren says. "If you were one out of 50 physics majors, you wouldn't get the same attention."
The best way to learn physics, she says, is to talk to professors and fellow students, and to work problems out together. One can find Barnard's physics majors in relaxed study sessions visited by faculty throughout the campus, especially in the physics lounge on the fifth floor of Altschul.
Besides the intimate network that Barnard provides, Lauren's family has been a strong influence and a model of balance. Lauren's brother is a dedicated musician who shares Lauren's passion for science, and Lauren and her father are currently taking history classes together.
The equilibrium that Lauren has achieved is something students typically realize and appreciate later in life. Balancing was a lesson learned through her love of both dance and science, she says. "If I had just gone the ballet route, I would have been a less satisfied person."
— Amy DeRobertis
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