Erika Strasburger

I am a first-year graduate student in astronomy. I am a Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellow as well as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. My interests are broadly in observational astronomy, but specifically pertain to “transients”— fast-evolving astronomical phenomena.

I graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in the spring of 2020, where I received a B.S. in Astrophysics with highest honors. While there, I worked with Professor Ryan Foley and Matthew Siebert studying asymmetries in Type Ia supernovae using line-of-sight velocities determined from nebular spectra.

I grew up in South Florida and moved to California in 2017. As a former community college student, I am passionate about increasing the retention and success of transfer students in the physical sciences. Outside of research, I love to hike mountains, take film photos, and make silly ceramics.