{"id":14409,"date":"2025-09-09T12:05:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/ami-choi-unraveling-the-invisible-universe\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:05:44","slug":"ami-choi-unraveling-the-invisible-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/ami-choi-unraveling-the-invisible-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Ami Choi: Unraveling the Invisible Universe\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ami Choi: Unraveling the Invisible Universe\u00a0<\/h2>\n

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Research Astrophysicist and Roman\u2019s Deputy Wide Field Instrument Scientist \u2013 Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/h4>\n

From a young age, Ami Choi \u2014 now a research astrophysicist at NASA \u2014 was drawn to the vast and mysterious. By the fifth grade, she had narrowed her sights to two career paths: marine biology or astrophysics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in exploring big unknown realms, and things that aren\u2019t quite tangible,\u201d Choi said. That curiosity has served her all throughout her career.<\/p>\n

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\"Ami<\/a><\/figure>
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In addition to conducting research, Ami Choi shares science with the public at various outreach events, including tours at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. This photo captures one tour stop, outside the largest clean room at Goddard.<\/div>\n
Credit: NASA\/Travis Wohlrab<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As a student at University Laboratory High School in Urbana, Illinois, Choi gravitated toward astrophysics and was fascinated by things like black holes. She studied physics as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, though she says math and physics didn\u2019t necessarily come easily to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t very good at it initially, but I really liked the challenge so I stuck with it,\u201d Choi said.<\/p>\n

Early opportunities to do research played a pivotal role in guiding her career. As an undergraduate, Choi worked on everything from interacting galaxies to the stuff in between stars in our galaxy, called the interstellar medium. She learned how to code, interpret data, and do spectroscopy, which involves splitting light from cosmic objects into a rainbow of colors to learn about things like their composition.<\/p>\n

After college, Choi read an article about physicist Janet Conrad\u2019s neutrino work at Fermilab and was so inspired by Conrad\u2019s enthusiasm and inclusivity that she cold-emailed her to see if there were any positions available in her group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a><\/figure>
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On October 14, 2023, Ami took a break from a thermal vacuum shift to snap a selfie with a partial eclipse. She was visiting BAE, Inc. in Boulder, Co., where the primary instrument for NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was undergoing testing.\n<\/div>\n
Credit: Courtesy of Ami Choi<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThat one email led to a year at Fermilab working on neutrino physics,\u201d Choi said.<\/p>\n

She went on to earn a doctorate at the University of California, Davis, where she studied weak gravitational lensing<\/a> \u2014 the subtle warping of light by gravity \u2014 and used it to explore dark matter<\/a>, dark energy<\/a>, and the large-scale structure of the universe.<\/p>\n

Her postdoctoral work took Choi first to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she contributed to the Kilo-Degree Survey<\/a>, and later to The Ohio State University, where she became deeply involved in DES<\/a> (the Dark Energy Survey) and helped lay the groundwork for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a> \u2014 NASA\u2019s next flagship astrophysics mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my proudest moments came in 2021, when the DES released its third-year cosmology results,\u201d Choi said. \u201cIt was a massive team effort conducted during a global pandemic, and I had helped lead as a co-convener of the weak lensing team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Ami<\/a><\/figure>
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Choi regularly presents information about NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to fellow scientists and the public. Here, she gives a Hyperwall talk at an AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting.<\/div>\n
Credit: Courtesy of Ami Choi<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After a one-year stint at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where Choi worked on SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer)\u2014an observatory that\u2019s surveying stars and galaxies\u2014she became a research astrophysicist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She also serves as the deputy Wide Field Instrument scientist for Roman. Choi operates at the intersection of engineering, calibration, and cosmology, helping translate ground-based testing into flight-ready components that will help Roman reveal large swaths of the universe in high resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited for Roman\u2019s commissioning phase \u2014 the first 90 days when the spacecraft will begin transmitting data from orbit,\u201d Choi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Ami<\/a><\/figure>
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Choi, photographed here in Death Valley, finds joy in the natural world outside of work. She cycles, hikes, and tends a small vegetable garden with a friend from grad school. <\/div>\n
Credit: Insook Choi (used with permission)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She\u2019s especially drawn to so-called systematics, which are effects that can alter the signals scientists are trying to measure. \u201cPeople sometimes think of systematics as nuisances, but they\u2019re often telling us something deeply interesting about either the physics of something like a detector or the universe itself,\u201d Choi said. \u201cThere\u2019s always something more going on under the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s eager to learn more about things like dark energy, Choi is also looking forward to seeing all the other ways our understanding of the universe grows. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just an end goal,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about everything we learn along the way. Every challenge we overcome, every detail we uncover, is an important discovery too.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who hope to follow a similar path, Choi encourages staying curious, being persistent, and taking opportunities to get involved in research. And don\u2019t let the tricky subjects scare you away! \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be perfect at math or physics right away,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat matters most is a deep curiosity and the tenacity to keep pushing through.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Ashley Balzer<\/strong>
<\/strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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