Abbie Stevens

About Abbie Stevens

As the CoLab Studio Program Manager at the MSU Museum, I bring people together to address pressing global issues at the intersection of the arts, sciences, cultures, and technologies. The current CoLab Studio exhibition,\"Blurred Realities\"(January-July 2026), focuses on mis/disinformation, authenticity, and perception in a technological era of generative AI and deepfakes. The previous CoLab Studio exhibition at the MSU Museum,\"Food Fight!\"(January-June 2024), looked at global food security, food production and consumption, and our complex relationships with food. I produced 30 public programs in collaboration with 25 partner organizations at MSU and in the community for \"Food Fight!\" that garnered over attendees. I also produced two asynchronous programs, and supported 11 partner-led programs in the Museum\'s new \"Commons\" space for programs and events.Another highlight of my role is facilitating research communication and science outreach initiatives through the Museum. I founded and lead the MSU chapter of Ignite talks, where we train student researchers at Michigan State to give creative, dynamic 5-minute presentations on their research projects. I also provide support and project management for art-sci residencies. In these, artists are embedded in scientific research facilities at MSU for a few months, and they produce an immersive exhibition out of the collaboration.Formerly, as an astronomer, I researched black holes and neutron stars to look for signatures of general relativity. The observations I used came from from X-ray telescopes like NICER and NuSTAR, and my typical analytical methods included smoothing and de-noising, Fourier techniques, rms and covariance, spectral modeling, and Python software development. Thanks to this experience, I have strong feelings about database management, CRM software, and quantitative program evaluation.If you are interested in having me give a public science talk, speak on a panel, or advise on incorporating scientific concepts in artistic work and storytelling, please get in touch!

Experience

1. Colab Studio Program Manager

   Msu Museum

   Jun 2022 — Present · East Lansing, MI, US

   I work on the Museum\'s CoLab Studio team to ideate and produce programs that expand on the CoLab\'s experimental and innovative exhibitions. I also started the MSU chapter of Ignite talks, which showcases the stories of student research rockstars doing creative, cutting-edge work at Michigan State.

Education

• Bard College

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Physics, Mathematics

  2007 — 2011

• University of Alberta

  Master of Science (M.Sc.), Physics/Astrophysics

  2011 — 2013

• Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School

  High School, International Baccalaureate

  2003 — 2007

• University of Amsterdam

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Astronomy and Astrophysics

  2013 — 2018

Skills

• Observational Astronomy
• Mathematics
• Data Analysis
• Simulations
• Research
• Numerical Analysis
• Astronomy
• Python
• Latex
• Microsoft Office
• Signal Processing
• Teaching
• Physics
• Time Series Analysis
• X-Ray Spectroscopy
• Spectral-Timing
• Community Outreach
• Fourier Analysis
• Statistics
• Astrophysics
• Mathematical Modeling
• Science Outreach
• Shell Scripting