TRACING ABUNDANCES IN GALAXIES WITH THE SPITZER ...

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Shannon was born on May 23, 1979 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Norman
and Sharon Guiles. They all moved to Redlands, California when Shannon was six
months old. Her brother, Jason, was born there on February 3, 1981, and Shannon
cannot remember life without him. As Shannon grew up, her father helped her
when she got stuck on math or science homework and her mother taught her how
to learn from books. She also learned a lot from tutoring her brother in math when
he wanted help.
Shannon graduated from Redlands High School in 1997. She went on to attend
the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where she received her Bachelor’s
Degree in Physics in 2001. During her undergraduate years she participated in
three Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs: (1) with Prof.
Ami Berkowitz at UCSD on magnetic materials, (2) in Prof. Michael Wiescher’s
group at the University of Notre Dame in nuclear physics, and (3) with Prof.
George Fuller at UCSD in theoretical astrophysics. The most enjoyable of these
REU programs was working with George Fuller, who encouraged her in applying
to graduate schools, and for part of the year after she graduated she continued to
work with him and his graduate student Jason Pruet.
In August of 2002, Shannon and her mom took a road trip to Ithaca, New
York where Shannon became a graduate student in the Department of Physics
at Cornell University. During her first summer in graduate school she worked in
biophysics with Prof. Carl Frank, but ultimately decided that biophysics was not
for her. After her second year in graduate school she joined Prof. Jim Houck’s
group in Astronomy, and she has worked in this group for the last four years, with
her work in this group culminating in her dissertation. She also met her husband,
Ryan Gutenkunst, while at Cornell, and they married on April 29, 2007.
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