Amanda Stricklan, who was raised in Anchorage, presented her dissertation Wednesday during a session at the 246th American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage.

Stricklan, a doctoral candidate in astrophysics from New Mexico State University, brought forth a new explanation for how coronal rain forms. Coronal rain is plasma on the sun that suddenly gets very cold, forming rain , which falls back to the sun.

This was Stricklan’s first time giving an oral presentation at an American Astronomical Society meeting, but she says she has presented posters in previous meetings. This meeting was particularly special for Stricklan because it took place in her hometown — marking the first time she’s been back to Alaska in 12 years.

“I wanted to come to this one because it’s the first time I’ve been back here since I graduated high school,” she said.

Stricklan’s interest in science was sparked during her youth in Anchorage. She beamed while recounting camping trips she took with her parents. Whether she was hiking, playing in tidal pools or kayaking, she said her parents often fostered her curiosity.

While she was attending South Anchorage High School and looking at which colleges to attend after graduation, Stricklan “didn’t really think about astronomy being something you could do as a job,” she said.

“They all had astronomy and astrophysics programs. … Oh my gosh, that’s what I want to do,” said Stricklan.

Stricklan completed an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy at the University of Georgia, later earning a master’s degree in physics at the same institution.

Her work studying the sun’s magnetic field is important because solar flares, which are linked to the sun’s magnetic field, can cause disruptions for power grids, satellites, astronauts and more.

“This whole field is called space weather,” Stricklan said. “The more we can understand about that, the more we can protect ourselves, our power grid and astronauts.”

Compared to Earth’s relatively orderly and neat magnetic field, the sun’s magnetic field changes constantly. Strickland referred to it as a giant ball of yarn that is constantly moving and twisting in the sun.

The question Stricklan is studying is what causes the rapid temperature changes in coronal loops.

“We don’t know why this happens; we have some ideas,” she said.

There have been two sides debating how this happens for over 40 years, according to Stricklan.

Using mathematic formulas and applying it to simulations, Strickland and her colleague and mentor Tim Waters found a way to link local instability in the coronal loops to a global cycle.

“It turns out that we are right. … The math checks out,” she said.

The next step in Stricklan’s research is to make an in-house computer simulation to test the findings. Previously, Stricklan and Waters had been using a simulation from James Klimchuk, a NASA astrophysicist and a research professor.

Stricklan has three months left of her doctoral studies. She has been working as a graduate research assistant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for a little over a year and is being considered for a full-time position at the lab, where she would continue researching while also working in the code development group. Los Alamos County has the highest concentration of Ph.D.s in the U.S.

“It’s cool being able to not just use this code for science, but also with what I discover while doing the science, that can also help make the code better as a developer. … It’s kind of twofold,” Stricklan said.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory is funded through the Department of Energy and the National Security Agency. As funding remains uncertain, Stricklan says, she and her research colleagues are continuing on.

Stricklan’s road from an Anchorage kid playing in tidal pools to a scientist studying astrophysics didn’t happen by accident. She feels that the STEM education she received is especially important for the next generation of Alaskans, especially young girls.

“I wish people would just stay curious,” she said.