Wanda Díaz-Merced

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Díaz.
Wanda Díaz-Merced
Born
Gurabo, Puerto Rico[1]
CitizenshipUnited States
Education
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomer
InstitutionsEuropean Gravitational Observatory
ThesisSound for the exploration of space physics data (2013)
Doctoral advisorStephen Brewster

Wanda Díaz-Merced is an astronomer best known for using sonification to turn large data sets into audible sound.[2][3][4][5] She currently works at the European Gravitational Observatory , Italy.[6] As someone who has lost their eyesight, she is a leader in increasing equality of access to astronomy and using audible sound to study astrophysical data.[7] Wanda has been included in the list of the 7 most trailblazing women in science by the BBC.[8]

Early life[]

Díaz-Merced was born in Gurabo, a small town in Puerto Rico. Both Diaz-Merced and her sister had physical disabilities, and had to learn to overcome the challenges that brings. As children, the two of them would pretend to fly a space craft and explore other galaxies.[1]

In middle school she entered the school science fair where she won second place. This was a turning point for her as this made her realize that pursuing a career in science was something that might be attainable.[1][9]

Díaz-Merced lost her sight in her early twenties due to complications with degenerative diabetic retinopathy and found new ways to study stellar radiation without relying on her vision.[10] She realized that she could use her ears to detect patterns in stellar radio data that could potentially be obscured in visual and graphical representation.[11]

Education[]

Díaz-Merced attended Matías González García Middle School and Dra. Conchita Cuevas High School in Gurabo, Puerto Rico.[12] She then went on to study physics at the University of Puerto Rico.[13] She received an internship with the Robert Candey at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland, USA after she finished her undergraduate degree.[7] She went on to receive a doctorate in computer science from the University of Glasgow in 2013, where she studied space data analysis.[14] She was then accepted as a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.[7] and South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town[4]

Scientific career[]

In 2020, Díaz-Merced accepted a simultaneous collaboration with the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the European Gravitational Observatory proposal REINFORCE.[15] Before this, she worked at the National Astronomical Observatory Japan (NAOJ) , and the South African observatory's Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). She has led the OAD project AstroSense since April 2014.[9][16] She worked on the technique after she lost her sight as an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico.[17][13] In 2016, she gave a TED Talk in Vancouver, BC, Canada.[18] She is a member of the International Astronomical Union.[19] While working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, she collaborated with Gerhard Sonnert on a music album based on her audio representations.[2] Composed by Volkmar Studtrucker, "X-Ray Hydra" includes nine pieces of music derived from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory rendered as sound.[20][21]

Honors[]

In 2011, Diaz-Merced won one of Google's first annual European Scholarship for Students with Disabilities. This scholarship recognizes outstanding Ph.D. students doing exceptional research in the field of computer science.[22]

In 2017 she was awarded an Estrella Luike trophy.[23]

Published works[]

  • Paice, J. A.; Gandhi, P.; Charles, P. A.; et al. (September 2019). "Puzzling blue dips in the black hole candidate Swift J1357.2-0933, from ULTRACAM, SALT, ATCA, Swift, and NuSTAR". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 488 (1): 512–524. arXiv:1905.09784. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz1613. ISSN 0035-8711.
  • Diaz-Merced, Wanda L.; Candey, Robert M.; Brickhouse, Nancy; Schneps, Matthew; Mannone, John C.; Brewster, Stephen; Kolenberg, Katrien (2011). "Sonification of Astronomical Data". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 7 (S285): 133–136. doi:10.1017/S1743921312000440. ISSN 1743-9213. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  • Garcia, Beatriz; Diaz-Merced, Wanda; Casado, Johanna; Cancio, Angel (2019). S. Deustua, K. Eastwood, I.L. ten Kate (eds.). "Evolving from xSonify: a new digital platform for sonorization". EPJ Web of Conferences. 200: 01013. doi:10.1051/epjconf/201920001013. ISSN 2100-014X.
  • Kurtz, S.; Hofner, P.; Vargas, C.; Diaz-Merced, W. (2001). "High resolution radio continuum observations of high mass star formation regions". In R. T. Schilizzi; S. N. Vogel; F. Paresce; M. S. Elvis (eds.). Galaxies and Their Constituents at the Highest Angular Resolutions. San Francisco: Astronomical Soc Pacific. pp. 280–281. ISBN 978-1-58381-066-8.
  • Diaz Merced, Wanda L. (2013). "Sound for the exploration of space physics data". University of Glasgow. Retrieved 2019-11-01. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Díaz-Merced, Wanda. "Making Astronomy Accessible for the Visually Impaired". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2020-07-12.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Hendrix, Susan. "Summer Intern from Puerto Rico Has Sunny Perspective". Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Wanda Diaz Merced: How Can We Hear The Stars?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  3. ^ "Wanda Díaz, la astrofísica ciega de Puerto Rico que descubre los secretos del Universo escuchando las estrellas". BBC News (in Spanish). June 21, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Johnson, Lisa (February 18, 2016). "Blind astrophysicist listens to the stars by turning data into sound". CBC News.
  5. ^ Hernández, Isaac (June 16, 2017). "La astrofísica ciega que escucha a las estrellas" (in Spanish). Grupo PRISA. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  6. ^ "European Gravitational Observatory | EGO". www.ego-gw.it/. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  7. ^ a b c "Wanda Díaz-Merced | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  8. ^ "100 Women: Seven trailblazing women in science". BBC News. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  9. ^ a b Simón, Yara (2016). "This Blind Boricua Astrophysicist Pioneered a Revolutionary Way to Study Stars Through Sound". Remezcla. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  10. ^ Castelvecchi, Davide (2021-08-30). "Using sound to explore events of the Universe". Nature. 597 (7874): 144–144. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-02347-3.
  11. ^ Merced, Wanda Diaz. "Wanda Diaz Merced | Speaker | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  12. ^ Gonzalez-Espada, Wilson Javier (2013-10-01). "Listening to the whispers from the stars". Ciencia Puerto Rico. Retrieved 2019-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ a b Hernández, Isaac (2017-06-16). "La astrofísica ciega que escucha a las estrellas". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  14. ^ Diaz Merced, Wanda L. (2013). "Sound for the exploration of space physics data - PhD thesis". University of Glasgow.
  15. ^ Gibney, Elizabeth (2020-06-03). "REINFORCE Project Handbook Including quality guidelines and ethical guidelines" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ Goad, Angela (2016-09-13). "Wanda Diaz-Merced | Introductions Necessary". Introductions Necessary [podcast]. Retrieved 2019-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ Díaz-Merced, Wanda (September 22, 2014). "Making Astronomy Accessible for the Visually Impaired". Scientific American blog.
  18. ^ "How a blind astronomer found a way to hear the stars". TED. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  19. ^ Englard, Kit (2019-05-26). "Astronomer Wanda Diaz Merced Uses Physics and Technology to Expand Accessibility to the Universe". Femme De Chem. Retrieved 2019-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ "X-Ray Hydra - Volkmar Studtrucker". www.volkmar-studtrucker.de. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
  21. ^ Sonnert, Gerhard (2012). "Star Songs: X-ray to Music". www.cfa.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ "NASA - Summer Intern from Puerto Rico Has Sunny Perspective". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  23. ^ "Trofeo Estrella Luike a una invidente estudiosa de las constelaciones" (in Spanish). LUIKE Iberoamericana de Revistas. August 2, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2018.

External links[]

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