Charlotte Minsky

I study planets and history.

I'm an undergraduate at MIT studying planetary science and astronomy, computer science, and history. I am pursuing a research career in planetary science, and I also care about teaching and outreach, diversity in academia, and social justice.

Astronomy & Planetary Science

I am majoring in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences with a concentration in Planetary Science & Astronomy. I'm interested in exoplanet detection and characterization, and in small bodies in the Solar System.

Current Roles

January 2019 - Present

Undergraduate researcher with Prof. Julien de Wit modeling absorption cross sections for exoplanet atmospheres
Target of Interest light curve vetter for the NASA/MIT TESS mission

Previous Experience

Oct 2016 - Dec 2018

Observational astronomy project class determining the rotation period and axial ratio of asteroid (2713) Luxembourg
Undergraduate researcher with Prof. Ben Weiss and Dr. Mary Knapp looking for radio signatures from Planet 9 in archival data

History

I am also pursuing a joint major in Computer Science and History. I am interested in 20th century Middle Eastern history and the intersections of race, science, and technology.

Contesting the Iranian Revolution

Jul 2018 - Dec 2018

Edited and indexed Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings, a book about the 2009 Green Uprisings in Iran by Pouya Alimagham to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2019

Conducted primary source research for related conference papers

MIT and Slavery

Sep 2017 - Jun 2018

Researched MIT's relationship to the Southern Reconstruction economy from 1861-1887 as an individual reserch project within a pilot class investigating MIT's historical relationship with slavery and its legacies

Presented findings to MIT's president, a live and online audience totalling one thousand, and national press

Digital Humanities

Sep - Dec 2018

Project manager for the MIT Digital Humanities Lab, managing a team that analyzed gendered language in a digitized corpus of 19th-century English literature

Oversaw workflow, contributed code, and coordinated with data collection and visualization teams

Teaching & Outreach

Education for Incarcerated Individuals

Sep 2017 - Present

Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Astronomy at MCI Norfolk, a medium-security prison
Co-founder and president of the MIT Prison Education Initiative, increasing educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals in Massachusetts and raising awareness within the MIT community about mass incarceration

Other Teaching Experience

Jan 2016 - Present

Guest Lecturer in MIT classes 21H.261 Modern Iran: A Century of Revolution and 21H.160 Islam, the Middle East, and the West
Coach and residential counselor for A Voice of Her Own: Debate and Public Speaking Camp

Other Interests

I am a campus leader and member of several organizations, including:

Queer West (President), an LGBTQ+ community and advocacy group
Addir (Fellow), an interfaith dialogue and bridge-building program
Discover Ocean Engineering (Mentor), a pre-orientation program for freshmen

In the past, I've also been involved with:

Yes on 3 (Volunteer), a successful campaign for transgender rights legislation in Massachusetts
MakerLodge (Mentor, Secretary), an undergraduate-run machine shop and makerspace
The Tech (Meteorologist), MIT's student newspaper for which I occasionally write punny weather predictions

And finally, I am committed to academic service through my participation in two Institute Committees by nomination:

MacVicar Faculty Fellowship Advisory Committee
Subcommittee on the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Requirement

In my free time, I'm a constant listener of podcasts, and once changed my course schedule so that I could see a Wait Wait Don't Tell Me live show (don't tell). I can also be found playing the piano and occasionally other instruments, sampling Boston's various pho vendors, hiking in the gorgeous hills of New England, and making TRAPPIST-1-inspired Christmas ornaments.