{"id":1135,"date":"2019-09-19T11:06:56","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T18:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/undergraduate-research\/?page_id=1135"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:10:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:10:13","slug":"jacob-hyden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/student-research-stories\/jacob-hyden\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Hyden-Childhood stargazing sparks a lifelong interest in astronomy for undergraduate researcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>Childhood stargazing sparks a lifelong interest in astronomy for undergraduate researcher<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-square-image wp-image-1136 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/Jacob-Hyden-300x300.png\" alt=\"Jacob Hyden with mentor Christina Thomas at the Discovery Channel Telescope\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/Jacob-Hyden-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/Jacob-Hyden-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>As a child, whenever <strong>Jacob Hyden<\/strong> was away from the lights of his hometown of Phoenix, he would spend hours looking at the night sky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was always inquisitive about space and the stars,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always looking up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So when he came to NAU, he naturally gravitated toward the astronomy program. Double-majoring in astronomy and physics, Hyden began doing research his junior year with assistant professor <strong>Cristina Thomas<\/strong>, analyzing the surfaces of Main Belt asteroids to better understand and characterize their composition and determine possible meteorite analogs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssentially, we observe the surfaces of these asteroids with reflected light rays in near-infrared wavelengths as well as visible wavelengths,\u201d Hyden said. \u201cBy analyzing this data, we can determine the composition and absorption features of whatever surface we&#8217;re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His research, including extensive experience in computer coding with the Python programming language, is a step on the path to his future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe research has definitely helped me prepare for where I want to go,\u201d he said. His aspirations include going to grad school to study astrophysics or cosmology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearch has helped me figure out time management and workload as well as how to handle problem after problem with coding. If I don\u2019t understand something, I just try and figure it out, keep going, keep re-doing things, double-checking, triple-checking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His mentor, a planetary scientist and former NASA postdoctoral program fellow, has also had a strong impact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr. Thomas has inspired me a lot,\u201d Hyden said. \u201cShe pushes me to do better. She also is helping me get my foot in the door to the community of astronomy and physics so I can further my education and further my opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- shortcode-right-column -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-right-column\" >\n    <div class=\"shortcode-right-column__container\"><!-- shortcode-block -->\n<div class=\"shortcode-block\">\n      <div class=\"block-header\">\n        <h3>Student spotlight<\/h3>\n    <\/div>\n          <div class=\"block-body\">\n      <div>\n<p data-ektron-preserve=\"true\">Jacob Hyden<\/p>\n<p><strong>Major<\/strong>: Astronomy, physics<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mentor<\/strong>: Cristina Thomas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n          <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Childhood stargazing sparks a lifelong interest in astronomy for undergraduate researcher As a child, whenever Jacob Hyden was away from the lights of his hometown of Phoenix, he would spend hours looking at the night sky. \u201cI was always inquisitive about space and the stars,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always looking up.\u201d So when he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135\/revisions\/1139"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/office-undergraduate-research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}