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What Are Astronomers Doing?
Shadrian Strong
"Astronomy just happened." 
Shadrian Strong enjoys a quiet day in the great outdoors.
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Shay Strong celebrated her seventh birthday in 2008. Shay hasn't had many birthday parties -- she was born on Leap Year Day and only gets to honestly celebrate every four years. But, this lack of parties hasn't prevented her from having fun with her many interests.
A Desert Rat
Shay was born in Tucson. She reports that her mother called her and her younger sister "desert rats" because "she would drag us around to old ghost towns and graveyards in the Arizona desert and we would explore, and camp." Shay's interest in exploring now extends past deserts to encompass the universe, but she has retained her love of the outdoors. As a child, she lived in many other states also -- Colorado, Washington, Maryland, and South Carolina.
"Astronomy just happened."
As Shay finished high school, she knew she wanted to be an artist, in fact, a painter, and studied art and architecture for a while. But, physics and math really grabbed her. As a freshman at the College of Charleston, she began doing astronomy research on pulsating variable stars. At the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket, she enjoyed working in public outreach, teaching children and adults about astronomy. She has also taught English as a Second Language and worked as a horseback-riding instructor for handicapped children, but teaching science was a bit different. Shay also worked as a student intern at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, and returned to Flagstaff to work for a year after finishing college before coming to the University of Texas for graduate school. Shay worked with Professor John Lacy on instrumentation for EXES and observing with TEXES in Hawaii.
Art, horses, cycling, etc.
Outside of her work, Shay finds time for the special interests in her life. She has an artist studio in her apartment, trains and works with horses, has competed in show jumping and various equestrian events, loves to cycle (with occasional 100-mile rides), swim, surf, and hike. Her days as a "desert rat" have found more outlets for her energy.
Shadrian Holmes Strong
John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Lab
Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin
M. A., Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin
B.S., Physics, College of Charleston
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