Quick Shot

Shown is a photo from 2003 of LLE senior scientist Reuben Epstein and his then high school student Wen-fai Fong. After graduating from Pittsford Sutherland High School, Wen-fai double majored in physics and biology at MIT and then moved to Harvard for her Ph.D., where she established a mentoring program for graduate students. Wen-fai’s Ph.D. thesis was recently named the 2016 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Astrophysics by the American Physical Society. She is currently at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory on an Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship. Following the award, she wrote her advisor, “I truly appreciate the time you spent with me early on in my career. I think my early experiences in physics and astronomy with kind and patient mentors such as yourself were crucial in solidifying my career aspirations to continue in this field permanently. . . . it was really a very formative summer for me. You are changing lives through the program!”