Personal Stories
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue25 1–28 February 2022
I’m originally from Kyrgyzstan – a small, mountainous country bounded by China and Kazakhstan. My family moved to Toronto, Canada when I was three years old. Throughout high school, my mind was set on the goal of going to medical school and becoming a doctor. This was the path of my mother, and her parents, and so on. However, when I stepped foot in my first physics class, I became immediately enamored with it. I switched to physics midway through my undergraduate degree and I never looked back.
I did my Masters degree at McGill University in Montreal. The research project was on the topic of radio cosmology and measuring the expanding Universe. In addition to research, I participated in outreach activities and groups that advocated for the inclusion of women and minorities in the physics department.
After graduating, I applied to ANU and was accepted as a PhD candidate in the RSAA. This would be delayed for about a year due to the circumstances of 2020-2021, so I took a job in software development in the meantime. Working in industry really cemented my passion for academia.
Eventually I started my PhD project remotely. I am working with Professor Matthew Colless on analyzing peculiar velocity data to constrain theories of gravity. I have been living in Nelson, BC, a small Canadian mountain town. One of my best memories of Nelson was speaking to a class of grade school children about the expanding Universe. I have never had a better audience. I sincerely hope I was successful in inspiring some of them.
When I’m not doing physics, I have a few hobbies I enjoy. I love to backcountry ski, rock climb, mountain bike, and recently I’ve gotten into ice climbing. I also trained competitively in the sport of dragon boat racing for several years, and even raced at the world championships. I find sports that require a lot of focus are a perfect complement to my day job – it helps to clear my mind.
I’ll be moving to Australia in early February 2022. While it’s a big change, I am excited to finally start this new chapter.
Paula Boubel
