During her time at Whitman College, Dorothy “Dottie” Metcalf-Lindenburger (‘97) had no idea that she would pursue a career in education, let alone be a part of the first generation of NASA educator astronauts. As she ran for the cross country team and took geology classes, she could not anticipate that a decade later she would fly in the Discovery space shuttle STS-131 mission after being selected from a pool of NASA’s thousands of applicants.

On Monday, April 4, Metcalf-Lindenburger returned to Whitman College to speak about Science, Technology, Engineer and Math (STEM) education, both during an afternoon panel in Brattain Auditorium and during a lecture later that night in Reid Campus Center. Her public talk was about her time as an astronaut entitled “Training, Living, and Exploring Together in Space.”

During her college search, Metcalf-Lindenburger was initially drawn to Whitman College because the flyers were printed on recycled paper, a new phenomenon in the nineties.

“I liked that because I’ve always cared and been compassionate about the earth, so I thought that it was really nice that a school valued the environment,” said Metcalf-Lindenburger.

Photo by Anna Dawson

While at Whitman, Metcalf-Lindenburger studied geology, was an Academic All-American Athlete on the cross country and track and field teams, and volunteered as a mentor and ESL tutor at Berney Elementary School. Her first year she lived in Jewett Hall, and later became a Senior Resident in Prentiss Hall and a Resident Assistant in Douglas Hall. Now-retired Phillips Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies Bob Carson, her academic advisor, reflects very positively on her time on campus.

“[Metcalf-Lindenburger is] somebody who has a very nice personality and who is thoughtful of others and has very high physical and mental qualities. If anybody could be an astronaut, Dottie could just [given] her combination of attributes,” said Carson.

After graduating from Whitman with honors in Geology, Metcalf-Lindenburger had no clear future. Her plans to be in the Peace Corps fell through when her program was canceled, and she decided to get her teaching certification from Central Washington University.

“I was a T.A. for Kevin Pogue’s [Introduction to Geology] lab and I enjoyed that a lot, but I wasn’t going to be a teacher … I didn’t think [at the time],” said Metcalf-Lindenburger, whose parents were both teachers. “I knew that we needed teachers in the United States. I don’t sit around a lot, I knew I could have applied to graduate school, but I ended up doing my teaching certification and becoming a teacher.”

After receiving her teaching certification, Metcalf-Lindenburger began teaching high school science. Her course changed when, while looking up an answer to a student’s astronomy question, she stumbled upon NASA’s application for educator astronauts. Metcalf-Lindenburger had always dreamed of being an astronaut but had planned on first getting her masters in geology. However, educator astronauts receive the same amount of training as typical astronauts but tend to incite excitement about space and science in students and the public. Carson was not surprised that she was picked for the position.

“I knew she was going to be a great teacher and that she is a great geologist, runner and leader, so it wasn’t a surprise that NASA picked her,” commented Carson.  

After her first mission in 2010, Metcalf-Lindenburger proceeded to command NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) underwater. During NEEMO, Metcalf-Lindenburger and her team tried to simulate conditions on an asteroid at the underwater laboratory near Key Largo, Florida.

“For two weeks I lived underwater with three NASA sponsored research folks and two technicians … Every day we went diving to try to show what it might be like to work on an underwater asteroid … It was kind of like getting to use geology, which I really liked.”

Metcalf-Lindenburger retired from NASA in 2014 and will be completing her masters of geology this June. Whitman students who attended her lecture were very excited to meet her.

“I’ve stared at the picture that she signed in the geo department and thought that it was so cool, so when I saw an email that she was giving a talk I had to go,” said sophomore Tara Stahlecker.

First-year Jonah Rodewald also attended her talk. “Everyone wants to be an astronaut, and so it was fantastic to meet someone who has actually done it.”

What advice does Metcalf-Lindenburger give to Whitman students who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM fields?

“Stay involved and stay in touch with professors when you leave … It’s not easy to leave Whitman. It’s a great, supportive community, and you don’t want to leave. When you go out into the real world it is hard … it’s not just quite the same. It’s going to be really awesome and it’s going to shape who you are but it is challenging. You can find your way but you need to keep contacting friends and support groups,” she said.

Photo by Anna Dawson

One hundred years ago, Einstein developed his theory of General Relativity. Today, a team of physicists from around the world, including a Whitman professor, announced they had the evidence to prove it.

At 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 11, students and faculty gathered in the Hall of Science, waiting to hear an announcement from a LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) press conference in Washington DC. The announcement was one of the greatest discoveries in physics within the century: experimental evidence of gravitational-waves.

Greg Ogin, Assistant Professor of Physics at Whitman College, is part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and was involved in the discovery. Ogin spoke to the Whitman community at 4 p.m. later that day to explain the project. 

“The implications of this moving forward give people like me goosebumps… Einstein figured out that these [General Relativity] equations would support waves, but thought that we would never see them in science,” Ogin said, launching into his lecture. His talk discussed the difficulties of trying to measure the gravitational-waves.

There are two laser interferometer detectors in the United States, one in Livingston, Louisiana and one in Hanford, Washington. Each detector’s laser beam is close to four kilometers long. Laser detectors are designed to measure huge energy sources from very far away by measuring slight disruptions (signals) that waves make to time and space. Despite the gigantic components, they result in miniscule signals, just little, abnormal increases in energy and it it is challenging to distinguish these signals from noise.

“The whole name of the game is figuring out what part of your signal is noise, so that when you see the actual signal you can tell what it is,” Ogin said. The noise was caused by seismic, thermal, quantum and gaseous energy, all of which are at vastly different frequencies and challenging to remove from the system. “This type of noise is why it takes hundreds, thousands of scientists to eliminate the fuzz.”

On September 14, 2015, the laser detector detected a small signal. This signal was likely indicative of a binary black hole inspiral; two black holes merging into one. As they merged they released 3 solar masses of energy in the form of gravitational waves, and then some of that energy traveled 1.3 billion light years back to earth.

“That’s kind of astonishing. 1.3 billion light years away, so the merge didn’t happen in September–it happened 1.3 billion years before last September.”

Ogin has also brought Whitman research students with him to study LIGO. For the past two summers students have analyzed data for sources of noise.

Senior Greg Holdman worked with Ogin the summer after his sophomore year, providing the theoretical background to explain possible results. Ogin’s research at the time studied the effects of random temperature changes that were causing noise in the mirrors inside LIGO.

“I think that [experimental evidence of gravitational-waves] will add to the number of students interested in [physics and astronomy]. Current students who were not aware of Ogin’s work will certainly be more likely to discover they may be interested. Or they may look into physics and discover a field they didn’t know they loved,” Holdman said in an email to The Pioneer.

The excellence of this discovery was not lost on the Whitman community. Mark Beck, Professor of Physics and Chair of the Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, chimed in on the announcement.

“We were all there [on Thursday] morning, even Kathy Murray. It was great. When they made the announcement…everybody applauded. You could sense that everyone was really happy.”

According to the BBC, experimental evidence of gravitational-waves will likely result in a Nobel Prize. Ogin could not contain his excitement during his lecture. “We have done it. We have shown that you can detect a gravitational-wave… It is a really, really exciting time to be involved in gravitational physics.”

On Thursday November 5th, members of Divest Whitman placed signs in front of Memorial Building that individually address each trustee on Whitman College’s Governing Board. The trustees are currently on campus for their triannual meeting.

“The inspiration for the signs was our campaign’s shift to a more personal approach with the board” said Divest Whitman member and Campus Climate Coalition president junio Mitchell Cutter. “The project also illuminates how little Whitman students know about the people making many of the decisions that affect them every day at this college.”

The agenda for the trustee meeting is not known publicly and it is not certain if members will address Whitman’s divestment from the fossil fuel industry.

“[These signs] should remind the trustees that we are still here. Our campaign goes on, and we will not stop just because the Board remains silent,” said Cutter. “For now, we stand by the ASWC resolution passed last year calling for a 1% cap on our fossil fuel investments, evaluated every year.”

Photographer Karissa Hampson covered the event.