Features Reporter
Few people can say that they turned away from law school to become an astrophysicist. CMU professor Jared Workman is among them.
A lot of passion and a small push from a friend pushed him into changing his entire life.
“I was on a backpacking trip after doing some peaks in New Hampshire and Vermont with a friend of mine. He was a really good friend, and he said, ‘I think you’ll be an unhappy lawyer,’” Workman said.
The idea that you could use science to probe the beginning of history, the beginning of creation, and then be bold enough to say what was going to happen. I just thought that was beautiful,” – Dr. Jared Workman
At the time, Workman had taken the Law School Admission Test and was finishing his degree in psychology.
“I had taken to reading the popular science stuff, like Caral Sagen and Martin Rees and I was sitting in the back of the class reading those books and I could understand half,” Workman said.
Workman finished his psychology degree and then went back to school.
“From my perspective, some of the stuff is ‘are we alone in the universe?’ kind of things, and honestly a lot of that is just technology catching up to the point where you can answer that or not, but for me it was really cosmology. The idea that you could use science to probe the beginning of history, the beginning of creation, and then be bold enough to say what was going to happen. I just thought that was beautiful,” Workman said.
While Workman is still a professor, much of his time is spent researching alongside students.
“There is actually a big cloud of material that is going over the black hole in the center of the galaxy and I’m working with one of our students to simulate it, which means my computer is running 16 cores for two weeks now. The material around the black hole will heat up and we want to see, can you observe that?” Workman said.
In his office, Workman has two computers, one for school, and one for his research. Currently the one for research is running this simulation and hums quietly as it works.
“And I’m sure next year I’ll be interested in something else. Kind of flavor of the month,” Workman said. “Any area of high energy interesting astrophysics, like jets from dying stars or like how everything heavier than helium is formed in a star.”
For Workman, CMU has given him the opportunity to do exactly what he wants.
“I didn’t want to work at a research university. Your tenure at a research university is based almost entirely on your ability to write papers and grants and that generally means you’re begging for money and you’re not sure you’re going to get it next year. You have to focus in on certain topics and I kind of like working on different things. I wanted to be at a place that I could teach, because I like teaching,” Workman said.
CMU allows Workman to flourish. His projects do not have to require grants or papers, but they allow him to teach his students as much as himself.
jkirk@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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