For many of us, the pandemic sparked pivotal changes. And Magdelena S. Allen was no exception.
Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Allen wanted to learn about everything. She loved stargazing and the physical sciences, but she was also interested in law and writing. Her parents, who homeschooled her and her sister until high school, were extremely supportive of her various interests. “But the thing I always kept coming back to was science,” she says.
An astrophysicist by training, Allen completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley. She then spent a year interning at physics research labs around the country, including the Fermi National Accelerator Lab, the Brookhaven National Lab, and the Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA.
