Vivian Miranda
| Vivian Miranda | |
|---|---|
| Born | Vinicius Miranda[1] Rio de Janeiro[2] |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 🏅 Awards | Leona Woods Distinguished Postdoctoral Lectureship Award |
Vivian Miranda is a Brazilian[1] postdoctoral research associate at the Steward Observatory in the University of Arizona's Department of Astronomy.[3] Her research is on cosmological inflation, with a focus on the Dark Energy Survey.[3]
Early life[edit]
Vivian Miranda was born as Vinicius Miranda[1] in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[2] Miranda recalls enjoying science from a young age. By age six or seven, she already knew she wanted to be an astronomer. She started studying astronomy more intensely beginning at age 15, in preparation for the Brazilian Astronomy Olympics (Olimpíada Brasileira de Astronomia or OBA). She states that OBA was an integral part of becoming an astronomer later in life.[4]
Career[edit]
Miranda studied physics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), receiving a B.S. in 2008 and M.S. in 2010.[5] She completed her Ph.D. with Prof. Wayne Hu at the University of Chicago in 2015.[3] A postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania preceded her current fellowship at the University of Arizona.[5] She is the first transgender person to conduct a postdoc in astrophysics at the University of Arizona.[2] She also works for NASA on the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope project.[6] She is the only Brazilian involved in the project, which is valued at 3.5 billion dollars.[7]
She is a mentor with The Supernova Foundation, which provides support for women in physics.[1] She is also a member of the Brazilian Institute of Trans Education.[4]
Awards and honors[edit]
In 2014, she won the Nathan Sugarman research award.[8] She was chosen for her "thorough and careful work in elucidating the effect of inflationary features on cosmic microwave background anisotropy and non-Gaussianity".[9] Miranda is the recipient of the 2019 Leona Woods Distinguished Postdoctoral Lectureship Award.[5] She was the first Brazilian to win the Award.[6]
Personal life[edit]
Miranda is transgender.[10] She recalls wanting to be a woman as early as age nine. She began her transition gradually in 2016, beginning with wearing lipstick or jewelry such as earrings.[7] After changing her name while at the University of Pennsylvania, she faced an obstacle when the university would not give her an updated ID card nor change her name in the human resources system. She recalls being surprised at the challenges that women in physics face, such as not believing they can wear dresses during presentations for fear of not being taken seriously. She responded to this perception by wearing a dress at one of her first conference presentations after coming out as transgender. Other challenges she identified with was losing her name recognition and connections as a result of transitioning, saying, "my career would be broken in half permanently. All the friendly interactions that I had in the past and that was important to project my name in the field will not be automatically translated to my new identity."[10] She is not uncomfortable talking about her past before her transition, however, saying she is proud of what she accomplished as Vinicius, "but that time has passed".[7]
She contrasts how her transition has been treated in the US with reactions in Brazil, where she believes machismo is a reason for her detractors in Brazil.[7][11]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Mentor Bios". Supernova Foundation. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Conheça a brasileira trans que desenvolve satélite para a Nasa" [Meet the Brazilian trans that develops satellite for NASA]. SIMI (in Portuguese). 25 March 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY AND STEWARD OBSERVATORY". University of Arizona. Retrieved 2019-10-08. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 ""É preciso muito trabalho para se tornar mulher e astrofísica", diz única brasileira em projeto da Nasa" ["It takes a lot of work to become a woman and astrophysicist," says only Brazilian in NASA project]. O POVO online (in Portuguese). 5 April 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "University of Arizona Physicist Vivian Miranda Receives Leona Woods Lectureship Award". Brookhaven National Laboratory. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lopes, Everton (8 May 2019). "Transgender Physicist Receives Diversity Award in The USA". Folha de S. Paulo. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Brandalise, Camila (21 March 2019). "Trans em projeto da Nasa: No Brasil não me respeitam; nos EUA faço satélite" [Trans in NASA project: In Brazil they do not respect me; In the US I do satellite]. Universa (in Portuguese). Retrieved 9 October 2019.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Congratulations to Vinicius Miranda for winning a Nathan Sugarman research award!". The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The University of Chicago. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ↑ "Fermi Institute announces recipients of Nathan Sugarman research awards". UChicago News. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Flickinger, Emma (11 November 2018). "Out in the sciences: 'Without limits and without fear'". The Tartan. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ↑ Baptista, Dyangellys (28 March 2019). "Vivian Miranda: primeira trans a fazer pós-doutorado em astrofísica" [Vivian Miranda: first trans to do postdoc in astrophysics]. Põe Na Roda (in Portuguese). Retrieved 9 October 2019.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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