Rebecca Coglianese Works Towards Career in Physics While Battling Cancer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and help her cover medical expenses.

According to rarediseases. org, AdCC most commonly occurs in men and women between ages 40 - 60, putting Coglianese far outside the typical age range for this disease.

“I was like, ‘I’m 21, I don’t have a tumor,’ and there’s no genetic cancer history in my family,” Coglianese said. “So I did not expect it at all. But it caused a lot of pain.”

After initial struggles dealing with complex medical insurance policies, Coglianese has begun receiving treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital, which houses a team of doctors that specialize in rare forms of cancer.

The Quadrangle’s staff holds weekly open meetings on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Kelly Commons Room 412. All are welcome to come and join the club.

Connect esting constraints on the brane parameters. She has actively participated in summer research as well.”

Passionate about pursuing a career studying astrophysics, Coglianese has continued to work hard in her classes and apply to postgraduate programs in the hopes of continuing her research and eventually receiving her Ph.D. She noted that she had finally submitted her first application to graduate school on the day she received her diagnosis.

With both of her parents currently living in Texas, Coglianese has leaned on Cho and her sister Victoria, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, as her biggest supporters.

“Rebecca and I are very close, we can frequently be seen giggling together in the li- brary,” her sister wrote. “When I first found out about her diagnosis, I was in shock and disbelief. It took a long time to process, and it was particularly difficult as the severity unfolded during the holiday season.” Their parents will fly in from their home in Texas to be with Coglianese as she undergoes surgery to remove the tumor on Wednesday, Feb. 15. She will begin radiation treatment shortly after recovering from the surgery.

Coglianese hopes to inspire more women to pursue careers in STEM fields, no matter what their circumstances may be. For those looking to learn more about Coglianese and show their support, visit https://gofund.me/30d8c962 to view the GoFundMe page set up by Cho.

Coglianese has not let her cancer get in the way of pursuing her career. She is one of only three current female physics majors enrolled in the small department within the Kakos School of Science and has participated in various research opportunities throughout her academic career.

She first approached Farrooh Fattoyev, Ph.D., during her freshman year at MC to discuss her interest in studying stars.

“We started working on research almost immediately after we met,” Fattoyev wrote. “In her first project, she embarked on the topic of neutron stars in the braneworld. The braneworld is a higher dimensional physical hyperspace where our 3-dimensional universe is restricted to a single brane. She studied the role of the brane tension on the properties of neutron stars and found inter-