Looking Beyond the Horizons with Sofie Vaughn '27

“This summer, I visited my family at a village on the world’s largest volcanic crater lake,” Sofie explained about her experience in Sumatra, Indonesia.  “While there, I completed three online programs that profoundly increased my knowledge regarding the nature of the universe.”  In her Vanderbilt University mentorship, she learned how to derive the mathematical formulae that come as implications of Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity, such as time dilation. The program with Stanford University featured similar topics, but also included a deep dive into quantum mechanics, with discussion topics such as Schrodinger’s cat and the double-slit experiment. “At the end, I got the opportunity to produce an individual research paper on ‘Black Hole Cosmology,’” she said. During the Rice University program, she explored the physical, mental, and mathematical difficulties of reaching Mars and wrote a proposal for a journey to Mars as her final project. “It was written from the perspective of a private company seeking to work with NASA and other private companies.”

She enjoyed learning about the complex philosophical implications in astrophysics and quantum mechanics regarding the nature of the universe and reality. While she found the math challenging at times, since much of it was at an undergraduate level, she persevered. “Although it frightened me at first, the fact that the concepts I learned completely changed my sense of reality today is what I would describe as the best part of my experience,” Sofie shared. “It reminded me that there is great beauty in the unknown, and to even comprehend a small portion of completely unintuitive phenomena was truly astonishing to me and continues to inspire me to study astrophysics today. It is thanks to these courses that I wholeheartedly believe that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.”

Once Sofie returned to the United States, she attended Advanced Space Camp in Huntsville. She scuba dived for the first time to simulate the weightlessness of an astronaut and completed two space missions where she was assigned the CAPCOM (capsule communicator) position and performed an EVA (extra vehicular activity). “One of the space missions was three hours long,” she said.

She credits her St. Cecilia Academy teachers for her preparation and for helping re-ignite her passion for space through ethics, philosophy, and theology classes. “These classes reminded me to truly think deeply about the meaning of life and what it means to exist, which are topics that led me to study astrophysics as an aid in finding these answers.”

She encourages others to pursue their passions. “I would tell them you don’t have to be amazing at what you learn at first or understand everything completely to continue doing it,” she shared. “All you need to succeed is the passion and determination to push through and remain open-minded, even when it feels like everything you have previously known comes crumbling around you.” She found that when people perceive the unfamiliar as a source of discomfort, questions help uncover what is true and what is merely perspective. Her scientific studies this summer increased her faith. She continued, “If you think about the vast expanse of the universe and the intricate precision needed for life to exist, especially intelligent life, my belief that an intelligent creator is present strengthens.”

Thank you, Sofie Vaughn, for sharing your summer story with us!