JEDIDAH ISLER:
Studying science changed me
 and it allows me to make
contributions into the world.
 And everyone,
regardless of their identity,
 should have that right.
We cannot get to the best
 possible exploration,
 whether it's on this
 planet or beyond,
if we don't have the totality
 of people in the room
 to contribute to
 the conversation.
( audience applauding )
( audience laughing )
I am going to be
an astrophysicist.
Now, it wasn't quite that loud
and probably not that confident
when I was sitting in a
library as a 12 year old girl,
and I figured out what I
wanted to be when I grew up.
I wanted to be an
astrophysicist.
And, with such an
earth-rending discovery,
the first thing I had to do
was run back to base camp
and tell everyone there.
So, I ran home,
burst in the door.
I said, "Mom, I'm going
to be an astrophysicist
"when I grow up!"
( audience chuckling )
I was so excited.
It was one of the
first times in life
that I had
compellingly connected
my identity and my interests.
So, I looked up at her and
I waited with bated breath
to hear what she was gonna say,
and she said...
"Huh, okay.
( audience laughing )
"Well, let's do it then,"
and we were off to the races.
That was one of the most
critical moments in my life
because she confirmed
right in that moment
with her unflinching,
unwavering support
that who I was and
what I wanted to be
were perfectly compatible
and that they were well within
the realm of possibility.
 And sure, I've had
 role models since then,
 like Doctor Mae Jemison
 and Doctor Beth Brown,
 both black women,
astronaut and astrophysicist.
But that first
moment with my Mom,
I'm sure is what
set me on the course
from that moment to this.
Now, it wasn't until much
later that she told me
that when I ran in and told
her what I wanted to be
that she had zero idea
what an astrophysicist was
or what they did, but she knew
that if anyone
could do it, I could
and I'm so thankful
for that moment.
Now, it's been roughly
a couple decades
and I did ultimately
become an astrophysicist.
So, I'm very excited
to report that.
So, I'll tell you
a little bit today
about my research on blazars.
So, blazars, what are they?
 Supermassive,
 hyperactive black holes
 that sit at the
 center of galaxies.
I'm showing you, here, real data
 from the Hubble Space
Telescope, Ultra-Deep Field.
 Everything you see
 here is a galaxy.
 Every single galaxy,
 we now believe,
 has a supermassive
 black hole at its core.
 Pretty much, you know,
most of these black holes
are going about the business
 of being black holes,
 eating things, doing the
normal black hole things.
But, there is a
special class of them
that's doing a little bit more.
These are called quasars.
They are gargantuan
championship eaters
in the black hole taxonomy.
They're millions to billions
the times of our own sun,
and are taking on a
thousand times more
than the "humdrum" black holes,
like the ones
at the center of our galaxy.
So, they are bringing in
tons and tons of material.
And, while the black
hole itself is black,
nothing is escaping it,
what you see around it
are the SOS signals,
the death gasps of material
as it's being pulled
into that black hole.
Beyond that, some of these
quasars have these jets,
we'll talk about that
in just a second,
have these jets that
are ejecting material
out of near the central source,
that are going roughly
the speed of light.
So, these are really
the championship,
most powerful sources
in our universe.
I study blazars, which
are blazing quasars.
So, you take this quasar
that's doing the th... You see?
We're building a story here,
come along with me. ( laughs )
( audience laughing )
We do the blazing
quasars, right?
So, now you take this jet
that's moving at 99.99%
of the speed of light
and you point it at the Earth.
It got really quiet.
( audience laughing )
You point it at the Earth.
You should not be
afraid, though.
These are cosmological
distances,
so we are not in any danger.
This is just a benefit of the
observational positioning.
So, we care about these
because they are pointed at us.
So, what you want to do is
understand how these jets work.
So, I'm gonna show you a
video, in just a second,
about how the
blazar system works,
how a black hole
pulls on material
and then, how we think
it creates a jet.
Now, this is not real data,
this is magic.
It's an artist conception
but I wanted you to see so you
have a picture in your mind
as we're going
through this story.
 So, what you're gonna
 see is a black hole
 with an accretion
 disk surrounding it,
that's how material falls
 onto the black hole.
 Then, the jet
 shoots out material
 and then, we're gonna
 zoom out of that
and we'll see that we're sitting
in the middle of a galaxy.
 And, the thing that
 I want you to notice
 about that jet is that
 it's not continuous.
It's sort of got particles
 and material in it.
 So, the idea, the thing
we want to figure out, is:
 How does this jet work?
How do we understand nature's
 particle accelerator?
 How do you get things
 moving that fast?
They start off moving
relatively slow,
like water going
down a dish drain,
and then they start to
speed up to these speeds.
 That's the question.
So, what we've found in our
group is that on some level
and in some of these huge
 ejections of material,
 the technical term
 is actually, "blobs,"
 which I think is the
 coolest thing ever,
 you can constrain
 the kind of physics.
You can decide... You can
limit what kinds of physics
can actually be possible.
So, that's the actual,
like, research that I do.
But, in doing it, I realized
that research is
not done in a vacuum
and that, in fact,
it was sort of an oddity
that I was the one
doing the work.
So, I started to think
about that and wonder,
"How is it that
we can make STEM,
or Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics,
more inclusive?"
Studying science changed me
and it allows me to make
contributions into the world,
and everyone,
regardless of their identity,
should have that right.
So then, I started
thinking about,
"Well, how could I do this
and who would I start with?"
And, I decided to start
with those with
intersectional identities,
that is, identities
that overlap.
So, I chose to look
into women of color
who want to pursue STEM degrees.
So, I started an
online web series,
which you can go and check out,
called Vanguard: Conversations
with Women of Color in STEM.
We meet about once a month
 and we talk about
 all kinds of things.
 It's a pretty informal
 place, but the idea is
 to confirm and affirm
 identity and interest,
so that there's no preferred
combination of those two
and that anyone could
be anything they want.
So, I host the show and it's
a group of rotating panels.
So, we have a bunch
of women of color
in all kinds of
different fields,
from graduate all the way
up to Deans of colleges,
that tell us about
their experience.
They tell us about
their expertise
and they give us advice
about how to do this
process even better.
In this way, we're trying
to form and cement community
so that no one
feels alone or othered
because of who they are
and what they want to do.
We decided that there
was so much interest
that we wanted to do even more,
so not just meet once a month
and have this conversation,
but really start
to build community.
And, it would be important that
that community be virtual
because we're spread so many
places across the country
and across the globe.
So, now we built a team,
and we are planning
to make Vanguard STEM the
go-to, premier destination
for STEM identity in
women of color in STEM.
So, here is an example of
some of our recent content.
 It's created and curated
by women of color in STEM,
so we get their vantage point.
 You are welcome to come
 join us, come visit,
 support, any way
 you want to engage,
 but this is a safe space
 for us to investigate
 those things
that come up in our minds.
This idea that interest
and identity are related
and can be in any combination
is an important concept,
but I'm not saying this by way
of asking to join the club.
I'm saying it
because we cannot get
to the best possible
exploration,
whether it's on this
planet or beyond,
if we don't have the totality
of people in the room
to contribute to
the conversation.
So, if we want to get to
our best possible successes,
our best possible discoveries,
then everyone has
to be at the table.
So, let's explore.
Thank you.
( audience applauding )
