Vanderbilt University
Olivia A. Greene, M.Sci.
Bio
Olivia grew up in South Florida. In addition to her career in the sciences, she’s a classically trained vocalist, visual artist, and grew up performing in musical theater.
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Finding astronomy a bit later in life, Olivia has had many different kinds of jobs; ranging anywhere from the cage manager of a casino boat to a paralegal. It was this diversity of life experiences that has given her some extraordinary skills— different than that of someone who took a traditional educational route. Her experience with theatre fostered public speaking and critical reading skills. Working in the casino's cage developed quick math skills and accurate number reporting. Being a paralegal engrained data reduction methods and formal writing. Each thing building on the former.
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In her second year of college, Olivia was drawn to Astrophysics, thus beginning a new career path, finally finding her calling in her second stage of life. Olivia is currently a doctoral candidate in Vanderbilt's Astrophysics department, in Nashville, where she lives with her husband and son.
Current Work
Olivia works in galaxy formation and evolution, and, more recently, the co-evolution of galaxies and AGN. Olivia is currently working within the SDSS-IV MaNGA Survey, classifying a complete E+A galaxy sample from the 10,000+ galaxies in the pipeline. This catalog will aid in the investigation of central and off-nuclear Active Galactic Nuclear activity and its relationship with the rapid evolution of this type of post-starburst galaxy.
Education
Olivia A. Greene received her Bachelors degree from The Harriett L. Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University, with a major in Physics, and minors in both Mathematics and English Literature. She went on to receive her Masters of Science degree from Fisk University, also in physics, through the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters to PhD Bridge Program. Olivia is currently a PhD candidate in Astrophysics at Vanderbilt University under the advisement of Dr. Kelly Holley-Bockelmann.