UMBC right-side Emily Ferketic can hit with power. But she also has the power to reach into a black hole. From anywhere. Her sofa. The classroom. The local coffee shop.
No special technology is required. She doesn’t have to say her name backward to get transported to another dimension.
All she needs is a pencil and paper.
As a Ph.D. student in theoretical physics, Ferketic can use mathematical models of physical objects to predict natural phenomena.
“When you can’t touch something, you have to figure it out,” she said. “Everything we do is theoretical because we can’t actually see if it works or not. We just do the math behind it, so, since everything should follow the laws of physics, the math should apply anywhere.”
Ferketic, a product of the Pittsburgh area who has already earned her undergrad degree in physics, is starting her master’s program this fall and also delving into her Ph.D. research. Moreover, she is doing all this while using her fifth and final year of volleyball eligibility at University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Pairing the demands of doctoral research with the rigors of a Division I sport isn’t for the faint of heart. Many schools Ferketic said that she spoke to during her recruiting process wouldn’t allow her to pursue her undergrad degree in physics — let alone work toward a doctorate — while playing volleyball.
But she found a willing partner in UMBC, and she has been able to live out both of her passions.
And do so successfully.
“What is the most math-y of the sciences?”
Ferketic said she always loved math, and she excelled in the subject throughout her schooling. But she needed math to be more than numbers on a page. She needed it to mean something, to have a practical application.
“So I thought, for lack of a better word, what is the most math-y of the sciences?” she said. “And it’s physics. From there, I went, what’s the most math-y field of physics? And it’s theoretical physics. It’s all pen and paper. Everything you do is basically … just applied math.”
Ultimately, Ferketic said she wants to get a government-related job. The Holy Grail would be a position with NASA, what she calls “every physicist’s dream.”
Of all that, she was certain.
Of volleyball, she was less so.
Ferketic took up the sport in fifth grade at the behest of a friend who happened to be joining the…
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