About the pulsars and profiteroles project
Hi all! I'm Haley Wahl and I'm a physics PhD student West Virginia University and my main area of research is astronomy. When I'm not doing research, I like to run, snuggle with my cats, and bake! I've loved baking since I was little and have learned a lot from my mom who loves to cook. I've always loved baking but haven't really had much time for it. I'm in my 4th year of my PhD and life as a grad student is crazy. My main focus is pulsars, which are super dense, rapidly-rotating neutron stars that emit radio radiation. I've been studying these objects since I was a freshman at the University of Vermont and love them so much.
During Christmas break after my first year of grad school, my family started watching "The Great British Baking Show." I love the Food Network and cooking shows but fell in love with the layout of this show and the challenges. This past winter after my last written qualifying exam was finished, I set my sights on baking an Eton mess (meringue, whipped cream, and strawberries) because of what I had seen on the show. I've always been fairly creative with baking and had gotten more into it during my second year thanks to the fact that I had an audience that welcomed any baked good (my boyfriend Mitch!). After the eton mess (which was DELICIOUS), I began to use the show as inspiration. After taking on everything from croissants (a hit) to cannoli (yeah, about those....) to macarons (either a hit or a miss), I began to try more and more challenging things. I always make sure to bring extras to our department secretary as she loves sweets and does a lot for the department, so I like to show appreciation! Multiple times from her I've gotten comments about how I'm "wasting my talents with astrophysics" and "that I should open a bakery."
One of my favorite things about being a scientist is outreach. I used to work at a planetarium and love teaching people about astronomy. I really like participating in programs like Skype a Scientist and Letters to a Pre-Scientist and doing simple things like sharing pulsar facts on social media. I get so excited about science and think it's so cool and want to share that with others!
The idea for the Pulsars and Profiteroles Project came as a culmination of all of the above. I've always loved writing and combining that my baking adventures with teaching people about a subject I love seemed perfect! In this blog, I'll share the results of my baking that week and the discuss a bit about pulsars. As you can see from below, I'm a bit of a messy cook (I believe that picture was taken after a gingerbread catastrophe in high school), so each post will feature a "kitchen destruction factor" where my boyfriend will rank just how disastrous the bake was on our kitchen. Thanks so much for following and stay tuned for weekly updates on The Pulsars and Profiteroles Project!
LinkedIn: Haley Wahl
Twitter: @hwahl16
During Christmas break after my first year of grad school, my family started watching "The Great British Baking Show." I love the Food Network and cooking shows but fell in love with the layout of this show and the challenges. This past winter after my last written qualifying exam was finished, I set my sights on baking an Eton mess (meringue, whipped cream, and strawberries) because of what I had seen on the show. I've always been fairly creative with baking and had gotten more into it during my second year thanks to the fact that I had an audience that welcomed any baked good (my boyfriend Mitch!). After the eton mess (which was DELICIOUS), I began to use the show as inspiration. After taking on everything from croissants (a hit) to cannoli (yeah, about those....) to macarons (either a hit or a miss), I began to try more and more challenging things. I always make sure to bring extras to our department secretary as she loves sweets and does a lot for the department, so I like to show appreciation! Multiple times from her I've gotten comments about how I'm "wasting my talents with astrophysics" and "that I should open a bakery."
One of my favorite things about being a scientist is outreach. I used to work at a planetarium and love teaching people about astronomy. I really like participating in programs like Skype a Scientist and Letters to a Pre-Scientist and doing simple things like sharing pulsar facts on social media. I get so excited about science and think it's so cool and want to share that with others!
The idea for the Pulsars and Profiteroles Project came as a culmination of all of the above. I've always loved writing and combining that my baking adventures with teaching people about a subject I love seemed perfect! In this blog, I'll share the results of my baking that week and the discuss a bit about pulsars. As you can see from below, I'm a bit of a messy cook (I believe that picture was taken after a gingerbread catastrophe in high school), so each post will feature a "kitchen destruction factor" where my boyfriend will rank just how disastrous the bake was on our kitchen. Thanks so much for following and stay tuned for weekly updates on The Pulsars and Profiteroles Project!
LinkedIn: Haley Wahl
Twitter: @hwahl16