“This research has not only enriched my understanding of the universe, but also my desire to get my degrees and try to help the future generations of students get their start in astronomy and gain the confidence that they can do it.”

Anthony Preston is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physics at UM-Ann Arbor. After graduating from high school, Anthony initially lacked a clear career direction and decided to enter the workforce full-time. He quickly advanced in a sort and inspect company in Detroit and later secured a position as a CNC lathe hand at a machine shop. While he enjoyed this work, he often found himself gazing at the night sky during his breaks, sparking a growing interest in astronomy and physics.

Determined to pursue his passion, Anthony enrolled at Henry Ford College, where he became the inaugural member of an astrophysics research team charged with identifying candidate intermediate-mass black holes in archival X-ray data. He played a pivotal role in training others to reduce X-ray data and even rewrote several complex guides to make them more accessible, significantly aiding his fellow students in advancing the team’s research. Anthony also gave a presentation at the 2023 Compact Objects in Michigan, a conference for researchers who study black holes and neutron stars; his talk was praised as one of the most engaging at the conference. Anthony ultimately graduated summa cum laude from the Henry Ford College II Honors Program.

Now at U-M, Anthony is passionate about paying his experiences forward and getting other undergraduate students who are interested in astronomy and physics into research positions. Anthony reflects, “This research has not only enriched my understanding of the universe, but also my desire to get my degrees and try to help the future generations of students get their start in astronomy and gain the confidence that they can do it.” Upon completion of his degree, Anthony plans to continue research on complex objects.

CEW+ celebrates Anthony’s drive to learn and names him an AAUW Mary Elizabeth Bittman Scholar.