May Featured Alum of the Month: Jessica Howard

What is my current job? 

I am a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Barbara jointly affiliated with the Physics Department and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. 

What do you do in your job? What is your work like? 

As a theoretical high-energy particle physicist, I study the connections between particle physics, mathematics, and machine learning. Because my research is cross-disciplinary, I learned about a wide range of analytic and computational methods. On a given day, I might be working through a calculation on pen and paper, writing code to train a neural network, reading to learn about a new mathematical technique, or writing up a draft of a paper to be published. Every day brings with it different challenges which keep things interesting. 

“Theoretical research” may bring to mind the image of a lone scientist toiling to develop a theory in solitude. This is largely a myth, especially in the modern day. While there are times where you will need to work independently, theoretical research is actually very collaborative. My day is often full of meetings to brainstorm ideas, puzzle through a problem, or hear about/present results on a piece of a project. Because of this, scientific communication skills are very useful. Additionally, the road from an initial conception of an idea to the final result of a published paper is long, taking months to even years. So patience is key. 

How did your UC Davis education prepare you for this work? 

I first needed to obtain my PhD as a graduate student at a research-intensive university. In physics, you can enter this kind of program right after graduating from UC Davis, which is what I did. I found that the undergraduate coursework was crucial in preparing me for the classes I would take in graduate school. Additionally, as an undergraduate student, I was able to participate in research with multiple UC Davis faculty. This allowed me to hit the ground running once I got to graduate school by building a strong foundation in research strategies and a robust knowledge base about high-energy particle physics. 

Are there opportunities our current students could pursue, which you found helpful for advancing your career? Or do you have any other advice for undergraduates in our program?  

Having the opportunity to participate in research as an undergraduate was invaluable. I would encourage students to approach faculty about doing research, even if it is in a slightly different area than what you want to pursue in graduate school. For example, as an undergraduate I did research in experimental relativistic heavy-ion and high-energy particle physics. In graduate school, I transitioned to theoretical high-energy particle physics, so the knowledge base was similar, and the programming techniques carried over directly. Even if you wind up switching fields entirely, the skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communication that you gain in research apply to any topic.