Dara Norman M.S., Astronomy, ’96; Ph.D., Astronomy, ’99 First African American woman to earn a doctorate in astronomy from the UW
AN IL KAPAHI
Dara Norman became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in astronomy from the UW despite growing up in Chicago, where the city’s bright lights eclipsed the dark sky and its wonders. Norman didn’t look into a telescope until her second year of college. She attributes her vocation to her mother, who was deeply interested in space. When Norman came to the UW for graduate school, there were only a few professional African American astronomers in the U.S. and two of them had graduated from the UW. Norman has worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center as part of a team focused on the Hubble Space Telescope. She also spent five years in Chile working at the Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory. Currently, she is an associate scientist for the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, studying the bright centers of galaxies to understand why some accrete gas and stars, and some do not. She says that some of the barriers for women of color in astronomy are internal. “Imposter syndrome, the idea that I don’t really deserve to be here, is an example,” she says. Fortunately, the chair of her UW department championed her for a fellowship and supported her academic goals. Finding great mentors, notes Norman, is a key to success in astronomy.
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V I E W P O I N T : : U Wa l u m . c o m / v i e w p o i n t