Caoimhe Rooney - From Sullivan To NASA

Read the full article on the BBC website.

Caoimhe (Dr Rooney) has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Oxford and works in the planetary system branch of Nasa, looking at planets outside of our solar system. She joined NASA as a mathematical modeller and credits her GCSE Maths teacher at Sullivan, Mrs Anderson (Head of Maths), with encouraging her love of the subject. 

Caoimhe has recently applied for the European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Corps - a programme to select and train European astronauts for space missions. and in February 2022, she will be involved in the PoSSUM Science Astronaut programme which trains people to conduct astronautical research in suborbital flight.

Caoimhe also runs a maths website with a friend from Oxford called Mathematigals and is using social media to encourage young people, and in particular young women, to get involved in STEM subjects.

What an inspiring former pupil Caoimhe is. Please click here to read the full article on the BBC website

With thanks to BBC NI for getting in touch with us about this article.