Inspiration is easy to find at Whitman. You’ll find it in the conversations you have with your classmates and professors. In the innovative programs we offer. In the comprehensive collection of books and journals at Penrose Library. In the internship and study abroad experiences that take you across the nation and around the world. And sometimes, you’ll even find it in the stars.

For someone who has devoted his life to studying the stuff that lies between stars in the universe, Professor of Astronomy Ulysses J. Sofia, aka UJ, appears remarkably grounded, even laid-back. But get him started on the subject of astronomy and it’s like switching on a sunbeam — the passion shines through loud and clear.

“I believe astronomy is the most interdisciplinary science field that currently exists,” says Professor Sofia.

“What my students and I do is to study the light that comes from the stars and the gas and the dust particles that lie between different stars. We study things from the size of atoms to the entire universe and to do this, we need high-powered computing. We need lots of mathematics. We need insights from physics, chemistry, and geology, among other fields. It’s just phenomenal how astronomy incorporates everything.”

Although his father was a theoretical astrophysicist and a professor at Yale, Professor Sofia had absolutely no interest in the field until he was 16. “I needed a summer job so my father got me an internship with a friend of his at NASA. I still remember this guy because of how he got me intellectually engaged with what he was doing.”

It’s that kind of passion and intellectual engagement that Professor Sofia has successfully sparked in Whitman students for more than nine years. “There is a lot of cutting-edge research that happens at Whitman,” he says. “We are one of the very few institutions of our kind in the nation to receive research funding from the Hubble Space Telescope project, for example.

“But what truly differentiates Whitman is that everything that happens here is student-focused. The kind of students who do well at Whitman are those who question a lot, who have an independent spirit that allows them to take a slightly different path than everyone else, who like to innovate and explore rather than be told what to do. And the faculty who come here are those who are passionate about teaching and dedicated to the students’ learning experiences.”

“The result,” concludes Professor Sofia “is an environment where students and faculty learn together, work on research projects together, and make breakthroughs together. A few years ago, for example, I worked on a project with one of my students, Melinda Kahre, that involved studying the interstellar medium, essentially the gas and dust that exist between the stars. We actually discovered some significant compositional differences in the dust rains along a specific sight line — which is very important information for astronomers. We presented our findings at a couple of national conferences. Melinda continued to remain interested in this research, finished her Ph.D., and recently received a national research council fellowship at NASA!”