Postdoc Profile: Mia West
By Thalya Paleologu, on behalf of Physics Graduate Community
Ambition, self-confidence, and Bunsen burner pancakes: these are some of the gifts Ms. Scott, Mia West’s high school physics teacher, gave her students. All equally important (though some more delicious than others), these gifts helped Mia start her path to becoming a physicist. West fondly recalls Ms. Scott as the first person who directly encouraged her to follow her curiosity towards a career in science.
Before Ms. Scott there were Bill Nye “The Science Guy”, Brian Cox, and Sir David Attenborough, whose television programs sowed wonder in a young West’s mind; now there is Assistant Professor Rachel Houtz, in whom West has found an equally inspiring and supportive mentor. At every step of the way, West had someone encouraging her to keep going. All this to say that we can never overrate the importance of supportive teachers. Without Ms. Scott, UF would miss the presence of a clever and thoughtful researcher.
But we can’t forget that at the center of it all there is West: a curious individual whose scientific inclinations only needed a nudge from a perceptive teacher. West says she’s always enjoyed problem-solving and puzzles. She enjoys the process of trial and error, and the unlimited capacity for improvement that is the spirit of research. “Science is about human progress, learning about the world around us, and gaining a better understanding of ourselves” she told me. “It’s about having fun and exploring the unknown.”
So, what are the unknowns that West finds herself exploring these days?
As a scientist, Mia works as a postdoc under Houtz, studying QCD phase transitions in the early universe. When the universe was only tens of microseconds old, matter was in a quark-gluon plasma phase. This phase had to hadronize for the universe to exist as we experience it today. West is not only theorizing possible explanations as to how this happened but also working to predict the gravitational wave signals that would be produced by such phase transitions.
When she’s not at work, West finds herself in a sea of unknowns much closer to her than the early universe. As a transplant from the UK, she spends her free time exploring Gainesville and immersing herself in American culture. “The states can be really fun. Everything here is big: the cars, the roads, and even the stores are huge.” Amid all the supersized novelties, she’s found a community of like-minded adventurers at The Knot — Gainesville’s regular-sized climbing gym — where she’s able to resume an old hobby that combines problem-solving with exercise. Wherever she goes, West carries an innate sense of adventure, curiosity, and fun which may have something to do with Ms. Scott’s Bunsen burner pancakes.