Sofia Sheikh
Berkeley SETI Research Center, University of California, Berkeley
Research Focus
About Sofia
I am a radio astronomer and technosignature researcher working as a post-doctoral scholar with the Breakthrough Listen Project. My research focus is on radio technosignature searches, but I am also interested in biosignature searches and astrobiology more generally, as well as observational radio astronomy projects with pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). I am passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) within the technosignature field, and within astronomy more generally, and incorporate these ideas into my teaching philosophy. I am also a composer of alternative music and a casual rock climber!
Honors
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Science Achievement Graduate Fellow (Eberly College of Science, Penn State)
Dean's Climate and Diversity Award Honorable Mention (Eberly College of Science, Penn State)
Institute for Computational and Data Science Seed Grant Awardee (Penn State)
University Graduate Fellowship Awardee (Penn State)
Education
Postdoc
Berkeley SETI Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 07/2021 - 07/2022
Ph.D.
Penn State University Park, 06/2021
Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State University Park, 06/2021
Master's
Astrobiology, Penn State University Park, 03/2019
Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State University Park, 03/2019
Bachelor's
Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, 05/2017
Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 05/2017