Kristine Romich

I earned my MS in physics from California State University, Northridge in 2020.  I work for the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership of the University of Colorado-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as a support scientist for the space weather team within NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

I came to physics as a nontraditional student with prior bachelor’s degrees in communication and psychology.  In 2017, I was selected as one of SPS’ summer interns and placed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where I studied the heating of the solar corona.  The Sun remained the subject of my research throughout grad school, and eventually my focus narrowed to space weather, an umbrella term for the interactions between the Sun and near-Earth space that can potentially disrupt ground- and space-based infrastructure. My current job entails optimizing the scientific quality of space weather satellite mission data.

In addition to my scientific work, I have several years of experience teaching physics at the college level, most recently as an adjunct instructor at Red Rocks Community College near Denver.  I’ve also given career talks to students of varying ages.  I’m passionate about connecting STEM students with resources that can help them reach their academic and professional goals.