Anna Soper’s love of math and how the world works began in elementary school. Starting in fourth grade, she participated in math club. In middle school, she was captivated by Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. “I was struck by how you can use elegant mathematical equations to explain the laws of nature.” She continued to pursue her interests, taking physics and engineering classes and joining related clubs during college.
Now she’s a first-year graduate student at Stanford University and a standout in the physics field. In 2023, she was one of 15 recipients of the prestigious Hertz Fellowship, awarded annually to the nation’s most promising graduate students in science and technology. “It’s a great opportunity to expand my network, learn from other researchers in a broad range of disciplines and enrich my graduate experience,” Soper ’22 says.