Tyler Hagen, BS 2021

Tyler graduated in 2021 with a BS in Physics and minors in Astronomy and Mathematics. He immediately continued to graduate school, where he is pursuing his PhD in Physics with emphasis in Astrophysics at the University of Utah. Beginning in Fall 2021, his experience will be comprised of three major duties- classwork, working as a teaching assistant, and research. His later years in the program will focus much more heavily on his research. Although he hasn’t yet decided on a research topic, he is interested in those related to his undergraduate work in galaxy evolution, where he used data from ground and space-based telescopes to study the observed growth of distant galaxies as a function of redshift.

One valuable lesson that Tyler learned from his time at Minnesota State University was that communication is an essential part of science. Whether chatting with a classmate, working with a collaborator, or presenting at a conference, you must be able to explain your work at the necessary level of the listener. Science is a group effort, so effective communication will create a productive, successful, and ultimately more enjoyable environment.