Stephanie Zajac, a physics student, presented at the semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Jan. 9-13 in Seattle. Zajac was selected as one of the winners of the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award competition. The award, which recognizes presenting students with excellent research, consists of a Chambliss medal and certificate.

Zajac’s poster, “Near-IR Spectral Variability of Young Stars,” showcased the preliminary results of studying 50 young stars. The California-Arizona Minority Program for Astronomy Research and Education (CAMPARE) internship program funded her project.

“It’s an exciting community to be a part of, and it’s dazzling and inspiring to realize the magnitude of not only our universe, but also the projects that are helping us advance our understanding of it,” Zajac says.