Meet Owen: Astrophysics Lover and Lifelong Explorer

Owen Dugan ’21 is a senior at OHS who conducts research in astrophysics.

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When young Owen saw pictures of planets lining the classroom ceiling at his preschool, his mind instantly swirled with fascination. His curiosity about the world around him started with his wonder of outer space and continued to grow as he took frequent outings to the local planetarium with his mom. Owen has since expanded his initial interest in the sciences to become a lover of physics, computer science, and astronomy, pursuing various projects in each of these STEM fields. 

When asked what his favorite project he has done in the STEM fields has been, I was amazed to hear about his intriguing, exploratory, program: “My favorite project in STEM was a program I wrote to automatically detect and remove satellite trails from images. SpaceX is deploying a network of up to 42,000 satellites for its Starlink network, which will provide nearly worldwide internet access. However, despite the benefit, these satellites are very bright and can interfere with astronomy. Astronomers predict that it would be very challenging to mitigate these effects. I spent a good part of last year tinkering with my program in my free time. In the end, I managed to build software that removes satellite trails from images visually, and I have preliminary results suggesting that it removes them well enough to preserve photometry (for some images it works, but it needs to be generalized to work on any image), meaning that images with satellite trails can still be used for research. I especially liked this project because of its potential broader impacts. For example, Starlink satellites are particularly problematic for telescopes looking for potentially deadly near-earth asteroids, so my program could help to prevent the extinction of humankind!”

If his groundbreaking science research is any indication, Owen is set on pursuing his interests in physics, computer science, and astronomy well into the future. Amidst a busy senior-year schedule, Owen is currently working on a neutrino research project that he will continue to develop as well as a continuing interpretable neural network project. He’s currently combining the two to apply the neural network he has been working on to his neutrino project! 

For Owen, OHS has played a meaningful role in helping him pursue his interests in the subject areas he is passionate about: “It has been great to be able to take university-level math and physics in high school—with other students my age! The only other options would have been to try to take them at a local college or university, and that would’ve been a lot of commuting for me and a parent, or I could have self studied; both of those options would have felt like I was I was missing out on a high school experience, though.” 

While he can’t pick a favorite teacher (because he’s had so many great ones!), his favorite subjects and classes include “math, physics, and astronomy research and of course, HSC.” Though he is typically more inclined toward STEM topics, Owen found himself really enjoying HSC, even though it is considered to be a humanities class. Beyond academic schoolwork, Owen co-leads the Theoretical Physics Club and last year, he started the Advanced Math subgroup, both of which he has enjoyed leading and growing. Nothing short of amazing, his members and he have been studying tensor calculus, differential geometry, special relativity, classical field theory, and general relativity. Owen adds that he also particularly enjoys being part of the Astronomy Club and the Math Competition Club.

While Owen may have developed his interests for astrophysics and computer science early on, he is continually exploring and experimenting in other fields. “I have gotten into theoretical computer science, something I did not know about until recently, but which I find really interesting!” Owen shares. “I took a class last year called Automata Theory and the Properties of Languages, and it was super interesting! This year, my Quantum Computing class has sort of picked up where that class left off, and it has been fun to see theoretical computer science applied to the much more practical field of quantum computing! I also really enjoy literature. My favorite book [series] is Lord of the Rings.” 

Although his schedule is often filled with exploring fields within and beyond his interests, Owen loves mountain biking and sailing in his free time. While the summers are the best time for him to do these activities, he still makes time during the school year to bike three or four times a week. Together with his brother and OHSer Sebastian Zuba, he has started building mountain biking features such as ramps and jumps in their neighborhood woods.

Another one of Owen’s free-time hobbies, astrophotography, connects back to the story of his preschool years, when his love for astrophysics first started developing. “When I have time, I enjoy taking out my telescope and taking photos of nebulae.” With his telescope, Owen is able to capture the complexities of space for him to analyze and share with friends. Owen’s passions extend far beyond classroom material, and he continues to find mediums to explore his interests and apply his knowledge, whether that be through research, programming, or astrophotography!