Women in the Sciences

A Stargazing English Major

"When I first arrived at Wellesley, I wanted to fulfill my science distribution requirement right away to get it over with, so my first semester here I took an introductory astronomy course. Amazingly, since then I have taken an astronomy course every semester because I find this field so fascinating."
Bena '04

In high school Bena '04 never thought of herself as a math person, and definitely not as a science person. Her love is language, as evidenced by her major at Wellesley— English. She is also interested in Chinese and participated in Wellesley's exchange program in Beijing to strengthen her knowledge of the Chinese language. At Wellesley, Bena continues to pursue her lifelong passion for languages; she has also discovered some surprising new areas of interest.

"When I first arrived at Wellesley," says Bena, who is from Fremont, California, "I wanted to fulfill my science distribution requirement right away to get it over with, so my first semester here I took an introductory astronomy course. Amazingly, since then I have taken an astronomy course every semester because I find this field so fascinating.

"The Astronomy Department is incredible; the facilities are phenomenal, particularly considering Wellesley is an undergraduate school, and the professors are so personable," she says. "They really want to get to know you as an individual. One of my favorite courses was Basic Astronomical Techniques with Laboratory. We learned how to use Wellesley's 24" telescope and spent a lot of time observing at night. I also observed and took photos of the asteroid Kuitaissi. In addition, for this course we traveled to MIT's Haystack Observatory in nearby Westford, Massachusetts. Multiwavelength Astronomy was another favorite. In this hands-on seminar with only five students, we discussed current research in fields of astronomy that rely heavily on wavelengths outside of the visible range."

Bena has integrated astronomy into other realms of her life beyond academics. She works at Wellesley's observatory and she serves as historian of the ASTRO (Astronomy Students Toward Recreational Observing) club, which exists to encourage and foster interest in astronomy among the College community and the town. The club sponsors open houses, lectures, and star parties. Annual events include the Leonid Meteor shower party and the Star Wars Marathon. Recently, two hundred people attended the ASTRO Halloween party (note the pumpkin-faced dome of one of the telescopes in the photo above) and were able to observe Mars that night. "The Astronomy Department may be small," says Bena, "but it is definitely high-spirited. It has become an important part of my life."