MMA Post-Baccalaureate Astronomy Research Fellow Receives Honorable Mention in Prestigious NSF Award

Logan Gomes • April 29, 2022

Nantucket, MA – The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) is proud to share the news that the MMA Post-Baccalaureate Astronomy Research Fellow, Celia Mulcahey, recently received an Honorable Mention in the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP). The NSF-GRFP, “Recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.” The five-year fellowship provides a stipend for the graduate student, as well as national prestige, recognition, and institutional support. The competition for these awards is fierce – each year approximately 12,000 students apply for the 2,000 awards given out across all STEM disciplines. The application consists of a personal statement, a graduate research plan statement, transcripts, and two letters of recommendation. 

 

“Each fall we support multiple former MMA astronomy interns applying for the NSF-GRFP, and just getting through the application process is no small feat. So, it’s always a great joy when our interns receive recognition on this national stage for their tremendous efforts and talents,” said MMA Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson. “It’s been such a joy to have Celia back at the MMA this past year, and to work with her as part of our NSF-sponsored collaboration unravelling the mysteries of fast radio bursts and the galaxies that host them,” Jorgenson continued. 

 

Mulcahey first came to the MMA as a summer NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) intern in the summer of 2019. Her summer research project involved a detailed study of a nearby galaxy in which the gas of the galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction of the stars. To decipher the cause of this unusual behavior, Mulcahey used data from one of the most powerful, ground-based optical telescopes in the world: the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. She wrote and published a first-authored publication in the astronomical journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, entitled “Deciphering the origin of ionized gas in IC1459 with VLT/MUSE.” 

 

“I owe so much of my confidence and prowess as a young researcher to my time at the MMA. It was during my experience as an NSF-REU intern at the Maria Mitchell Observatory (MMO) where I first fell in love with how galaxies form and evolve, and developed essential research and communication skills,” said Mulcahey. After graduating summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. in Astronomy and Geology, Mulcahey returned to the MMA in September of 2021 as the Post-Baccalaureate Astronomy Research Fellow. 

 

The Post-Baccalaureate Astronomy Research Fellow position is sponsored by a special research grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to the MMA to support the MMA’s participation in the Fast and Fortunate for FRB Follow-up, or F4, collaboration. The goal of the F4 collaboration is to perform optical follow-up of the host galaxies of the mysterious fast radio bursts, or FRBs, which are extremely bright and brief flashes of radio radiation whose cause is not currently understood. “As the post-bac research fellow, the MMA and the F4 collaboration have provided me with a platform to be at the forefront of research in the astrophysics, specifically in FRBs, which are remarkable bursts of unknown extragalactic origins that release a comparable amount of energy in a thousandth of a second as the Sun does in a year,” said Mulcahey. During the past year, Mulcahey has conducted observations using the other most powerful, ground-based optical telescope in the world, the Keck Telescope in Hawai’i, to observe a nearby globular cluster that hosts a repeating FRB. In addition to her research work, Mulcahey assists with the MMA’s education and outreach programs, including helping to host Open Nights at the Loines Observatory and providing the weekly Star Report podcast. This coming summer, Mulcahey will assist in mentoring the new NSF-REU interns and help them to learn the ropes of telescope operation, research processes, and making the most of their time on Nantucket. 

 

In the fall, Mulcahey will begin her graduate studies in the Astrophysics Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University where she plans to use the first observations from the newly deployed James Webb Space Telescope to understand the dynamical and chemical evolution of galaxies since the early universe. Mulcahey said, “My next adventure marks the culmination of a substantive and competitive research background, which I have gained thanks to the opportunities and mentorship I've received from the MMA.”


The Maria Mitchell Association is a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

April 29, 2022

Contact: Logan Gomes, Director of Advancement

lgomes@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger July 7, 2025
July 31, 1883. I had two or three rich days! On Friday last I went to Holderness, N.H.. to the Asquam House; I had been asked by Mrs. T to join her party. There was at this house Mr. Whittier, Mr., and Mrs. Cartland, Professor and Mrs. Johnson, of Yale . . . The house seemed full of fine, cultivate people. We stayed two days and a half. And first of the scenery. The road up to the house is a steep hill, and at the foot of the hill it winds and turns around two lakes. The panorama is complete one hundred and eighty degrees. Beyond the lakes lie the mountains.  The Asquam House sat atop Shepard Hill and was built in 1881. A hotel, it has space for fifty guests, it was located near Squam Lake and became part of a summer enclave that developed there in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, the area is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1948. Maria would have been familiar with these people seen here – and others I did not include – but particularly John Greenleaf Whittier who was something of a family friend. He was close to one of her younger brothers, William Forester. JNLF
July 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews
By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger June 30, 2025
As we are now complete with the conservation of the historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO), I thought it would be good to post a series of blogs concerning it history and activities, as well as some of the amazing people who have made it what it is over the last 100 plus years. Therefore, over the next few weeks, the focus will be on the MMO. And it is now open for tours – Monday through Saturday 11-1PM. Founded in 1902, the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) had its beginnings in the Mitchell House where Maria Mitchell was born. Over the first few years, the preservation of the Mitchell House, family artifacts, and the collection and display of Nantucket’s native flora and fauna, as well as a small library, were the key components of the MMA. Special “Moon Evenings” were held on the lawn and people observed Nantucket’s night skies using several small telescopes, including William and Maria Mitchell’s two-and-three-quarter-inch Dollond telescope. The popular evenings led to the inevitable – a desire and need to expand based on the demands of the visitors to, and members of, the MMA. In 1906, Lydia Hinchman, a founder of the MMA and a family member, purchased the house and lot adjacent to the Mitchell House. The house – once the home of William Mitchell’s father and mother – was taken down. The MMA began a dialogue with the Harvard College Observatory and its director, Edward Pickering, Ph.D. The connection to Harvard was to become essential to the success of the beginning years of the Maria Mitchell Observatory and continued a legacy of friendship and work – Maria Mitchell and her father worked with the Bonds who once ran the observatory at Harvard and the families were close friends. Besides his assistance, Pickering asked a member of his staff, Annie Jump Cannon, to assist the MMA. This “provided an indispensable collaboration for Nantucket astronomy,” with Cannon spending two weeks on the island in 1906 and 1907 lecturing and teaching. While back at Harvard, she continued to teach the students on Nantucket by mail. Cannon would go on to be recognized as the leading woman astronomer of her generation and as the founder of the MMA’s Astronomy Department. JNLF
Show More