Congratulations to Megan Perks, of the School of Physics and Astronomy, for winning the Leicester Alumni Association ‘Graduating Student of the Year Award.’
Megan is a final-year student studying for an MPhys Physics with Space Science (2022). The citation celebrating Megan’s achievement noted the following:
Co-President of the University astronomical society – Astrosoc:
In this position Megan has been active in fundraising to support this group and this students it serves. She was recently successful in securing funding to enable 22 members of the society to attend the prestigious UK National Student Space Society’s National Student Space Conference.
Outstanding contribution to research as an Undergraduate
As part of the fourth-year research project, a major component of the final Masters degree, Megan worked with members of the forthcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission here at the University of Leicester.
During the summer of 2021, Megan was awarded an extremely competitive internship with the European Space Agency, exploring the impact of satellite mega-constellations on astronomical observations, a topic of importance to the whole astronomical community and in which the UK is playing an important role. The internship was secured in open competition across the whole of the 20+ European Space Agency countries. Working with a team at European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Megan developed a citizen-science project to search for satellite trails in Hubble Space Telescope observations. Her contribution to this work impressed her advisors at ESTEC. A paper is about to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal on the outcome, and Megan has been invited to represent the team at the European Astronomical Society (EAS) meeting in Valencia, Spain, this summer.
Enormous congratulations to Megan, and we look forward to seeing where your career is going to take you next!
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