At Libby Gardner Hall April 16, when the lights came up on the University of Utah's Jazz Guitar Ensemble, few people would have guessed that one of the eight musicians in the College of Fine Arts group was a budding computational astrophysicist and researcher.

But there she was — Lukas Mesicek — fingering and strumming with her fellow guitarists the opening strains of Victor Young's swooning "A Weaver of Dreams."

An honors student double-majoring in physics and mathematics, Mesicek herself swoons not only over what's been called the easy-bake blowing tunes of Herbie Hancock or the groundbreaking works of bossa nova impresario Luis Bonfa; she can be found in the Department of Physics and Astronomy with Professor John Belz. There she uses recent advancements in numerical analysis to simulate a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum.

When Mesicek is not navigating (in code) "axisymmetric spacetimes," thus furthering our understanding of the gravitational and cosmological processes which govern our universe, the recently awarded Goldwater scholar — the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields — can be found further traversing the academic cosmos at the U. In addition to demonstrating academic excellence in the classroom, including in multiple graduate courses, Mesicek has also contributed to research projects in the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and with Anton Burtsev, assistant professor in the Kahlert School of Computing.

Extended pursuits

This rich and enervating pursuit through pure and applied sciences demonstrates, Mesicek says, that "scientific endeavors are a very collaborative process." Additionally, she serves as an officer in the local chapter of the Society of Physics Students while at the same time netted a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Department of Physics & Astronomy, an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program award from the Office of Undergraduate Research and the James B. & Betty Debenham Scholarship awarded by the Honors College.

But these extended pursuits, acknowledged widely, are not only empirically-derived or scientific findings put to promising real-world applications; they are also philosophical. Mesicek has benefited from honors courses in philosophy and literature that, she says, “provided a crucial context for the history of human inquiry and helped me understand what motivates us to do science.”

Varied approaches and experiences at the blackboard, in the classroom and in the lab are now culminating in Mesicek's honors thesis which employs numerical simulations to continue her investigation into critical phenomena in black hole formation. The thesis is proof positive that the science isn't done until it's been communicated (or so it is argued) and has, she says, “served as practice for writing academic articles,” and improved “my ability to communicate technical subject matter to both experts and nonscientists.”

"Like so many of the students our office supports," says Ginger Smoak, director of the U's Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, "Lukas has taken advantage of the rigorous coursework, research and leadership experiences, and faculty mentorship available at the University of Utah. Lukas’ scholarship application was stellar and demonstrated to the Goldwater Foundation that she is nationally competitive and has the capacity to become a leading computational astrophysicist and researcher."

Smoak, whose office helps students and recent alumni navigate complex application processes and develop competitive applications, explains that The Goldwater Scholarship is an endorsed scholarship, which means that U applicants must be vetted and nominated by a faculty committee.

black hole physics

The culmination of Mesicek's sojourn at the U is to propel her towards earning a doctoral degree after graduation and to become a computational astrophysicist and professor at a research university. As for her most recent accolade offered through the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, she says that "I am honored to be named a Goldwater Scholar. Going through the application process allowed me to clarify my own interests within astrophysics, and the awarded funding will enable my planned program of study and research in black hole physics."

Back at the concert hall, there is another culmination, a kind of cap-stone to the remarkable mind and person who is Mesicek, sourced by the University of Utah community which this Goldwater recipient has called, of late, "home." The jazz guitar ensemble is a metaphor for the kind of collaboration and inter-disciplinary work, punctuated with short, melodic phrases that can be repeated or varied during improvisation, what in the jazz genre is called "licks." These solos build out the melodic lines, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts, something that in the science-laced composition of the guitarist Lukas Mesicek makes for an arresting whole and start of what promises to be an auspicious career.