Hi, my name is Ryan Anderson. I was born in Detroit and grew up in Farmington Hills in southeastern Michigan. I’ve been a science nerd since before I knew what science was, and at various times in grade school I wanted to be a paleontologist, herpetologist, entomologist, geologist… In high school, science classes finally became more specialized, and my interests drifted toward the physical sciences. I took an astronomy class as a junior and loved every minute because the topic was so big that it included all the other sciences. My astronomy teacher recommended reading books by Carl Sagan, which I did. After that, I was hooked. At the same time, I realized that although I was a good student in science and math, writing came much more naturally to me, and I considered studying English in college.
I went to the University of Michigan and contemplated a double major in English and Astronomy, but soon realized that doing both would take more than four years. I finally decided that I can still write as a scientist, but can’t do science as an English major, so I ended up studying Astrophysics and Physics. I am now a graduate student in the Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell, aiming for a PhD in planetary science. After grad school, I hope to be involved in the exploration of our solar system either by working at NASA, or as a professor at a university.
I am very involved in events bringing astronomy to the public, which is lots of fun. I answer questions for Cornell’s Ask an Astronomer website, and participate in lots of outreach activities with local schools. No matter where I end up, I hope to incorporate communicating science to the public into what I do. I am the co-author of a blog called The Martian Chronicles (with apologies to Ray Bradbury).
When I’m not doing school related things, I tend to spend a lot of time on the internet. I also love reading and am always looking for book recommendations. I also enjoy writing, and have recently been practicing writing fiction when time permits. I am not much for competitive sports, but skiing, running, and hiking are all fun. I have also recently gotten into backpacking, and hope to do it as often as I can. Photography is fun too, especially while hiking/backpacking. I’m also a certified SCUBA diver, but do that even less often.
