Katie Bouman, the scientist who reveals the invisible

The first-ever image of a black hole was unveiled to the public this past April. It was produced by a team of 200 scientists as part of the Event Horizon Telescope Project. Katie Bouman, an assistant professor at Caltech, was at the center of the action. On a recent visit to EPFL, she talked about computer science with President Martin Vetterli. Katie Bouman was one of 200 scientists who helped create the first-ever image of a black hole, released this past April. The 30-year old researcher, who was recently named an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), came to speak at EPFL's Open Science Day. Martin Vetterli took advantage of that opportunity to sit down with her and ask her a few questions about their field of shared interest. MV: "It's pretty unusual for someone to become a star researcher at such a young age. How did you get into science? KB: I was very interested in science as a kid. When I was in third grade, I remember looking under rocks all the time. And as I got older, I was constantly drawn to the different science topics covered in class. In sixth grade, I first got involved in science fair projects, and I continued doing that on and off through high school. Then, when I tried out research for the first time, I was thrilled: it was so different from a homework set, where you know there's a solution even if it's difficult to find. Research was a new way of thinking and problem-solving for me, and I found that very exciting. How did you get into computer science?