How has your MassArt experience helped to shape your career path?

MassArt taught me how to chart my own course—both in life and in my career. It gave me the tools to recognize opportunities when they came along and the confidence to pursue them.

I actually started out at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, but transferred to MassArt because I felt the program was a better fit for my interests and where I wanted to go creatively.

While I was at MassArt, I had the chance to study with Jon Imber—an artist I deeply admired—and Ben Blum, who encouraged my growing interest in astronomy. I worked my way through school in various part-time jobs in the area including working at the photo lab Ferranti-Dege in Harvard Square, and also taking slides of fellow artists’ work for their portfolios. I also worked at the Audio/Visual department at Harvard University’s Science Center, where I would shoot 35-mm slides of the pages of Sky & Telescope for the lectures by historian of astronomy Owen Gingerich.

Tell us about the MDW Sky Survey.

The MDW Sky Survey (mdwskysurvey.org) is a project I co-founded with my friends David Mittelman and Dennis di Cicco. Our goal was to create a detailed map of the entire sky in hydrogen-alpha—this very specific red wavelength where neutral hydrogen gas glows. That gas is one of the building blocks of stars and galaxies, so it’s foundational to understanding how the universe evolves.

We realized there isn’t a good map of this faint nebulosity freely available to the public, so we set out to make one. MDW comes from our last name initials. The project aims to image the sky at fairly high resolution, dividing up the sky into 4,120 individual fields. As we accumulated images, I stitched them together and published large mosaics of these nebulous areas on our website. These images gained the attention of the professional astronomy community, and has since led to several discoveries of previously unknown objects in our galaxy. We’ve in recent years partnered with Columbia University’s Astronomy department to publish papers and share our data more broadly. We began the project in May 2016, and completed some 80% of the sky by late 2022. Around that time, we shipped a telescope to Chile in order to image the part of the sky that never rises above the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. We are nearing completion of the main data collection and intend to assemble the images into a massive, high-resolution image of the entire sky, which will likely be incorporated into many planetarium apps. 

What does it feel like to have an asteroid named after you?

It’s pretty surreal to say I have an asteroid officially named after me  – 13623 Seanwalker – a hunk of rock that will far outlive me. It’s like a sort of immortality, in a way. Only about 15,000 asteroids are named so far. My colleague Dennis di Cicco, a pioneer of astrophotography techniques himself, discovered the asteroid back in the mid-1990s. It certainly helps to know someone who has discovered these space rocks.

How does one build their own observatory?

The “easiest” version is like building a big shed or studio, with the added complexity of having to make the roof roll off in order to permit a permanently-mounted telescope to see the sky. Think big wheels, iron rails, and winches. When I built mine a few years ago, the building inspector was rather baffled as to how I was going to accomplish it (“How is the roof going to stay on?”) but in the end he signed off on it. He was also suspicious as to why I didn’t want any windows (it’s so the neighbor’s porch light isn’t shining on the scope or in my eyes when using the scope). The sign on the door of mine greets visitors with “Wilkommen in der Dunkelheit” which means welcome to the darkness in German.

What advice would you give to students today who are hoping to carve out their own space in a creative career?

Stay curious. Stay focused. And don’t be afraid to try new things.

Elka founded Future Chefs in 2008, driven by a belief in the collective responsibility to prepare young people for productive, fulfilling lives. Over the past 17 years, Future Chefs has become a cornerstone in youth development, combining practical culinary training with mentorship and personal growth opportunities to equip teens with the skills and confidence to navigate their futures. The program reflects Elka’s passion for creating sustainable, community-centered models for local impact, rooted in her background as the granddaughter of a union organizer and farmer, and her own experience as a cook and caterer.In addition to leading Future Chefs, Elka founded the Circle of Girls program, a pioneering arts-based prevention strategy for middle school girls, and served as the program director for the Boston chapter of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (CCAP). Her innovative leadership earned her recognition as a Social Innovator by Root Cause in 2011, and in 2013, she became the first executive director to earn a Boston Neighborhood Fellowship from the Philanthropic Institute. Elka also served on Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s Economic Development Transition Team in 2014, holds a certificate in Non-Profit Management and Leadership from Boston University, and has completed graduate-level coursework at Harvard’s School of Education and Radcliffe Seminars.

This fall, after 17 years of extraordinary leadership, Elka retired from Future Chefs, leaving behind a legacy of transformation and empowerment for hundreds of Boston-area youth. Her leadership inspired countless students to build confidence and find direction, with one student summing up the program’s impact in a CBS News article as a place that teaches “knife skills and life skills.”

Elka will be celebrated alongside five other distinguished honorees, including May Chau (BFA Arts Education ’07), Visual Arts Supervisor for Somerville Public Schools; Shirley Ann Session Edgerton, community activist, educator, and founder of Rites of Passage and Empowerment Program (R.O.P.E.); Yinette Guzman (BFA Architecture ’08), Senior Project Manager of Design and Placemaking at the North Shore Community Development Coalition; photographer Thaddeus Miles, Senior Director of Diversity Initiatives at MassHousing and founder of the Black Joy Initiative; and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. Each honoree will receive a custom-made, inscribed artwork by Sam Kim, a Lowell-based ceramics artist and MassArt graduate (BFA Industrial Design and Ceramics ’18).

“This year’s Common Good Award recipients reflect the many ways artists can drive societal change, change perspectives, and honor the diversity that helps communities thrive,” said President Grant. “Each of these recipients have demonstrated innovative work in education, community building, and advocacy and stand as a testament to the essential role that creativity plays in shaping our collective future. We are honored to recognize their contributions to the common good.”

The MassArt Common Good Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 7, 2024, at noon at MassArt’s Design and Media Center (621 Huntington Avenue, Boston). The event is free and open to the public, though tickets are required.

For more information on attending the event or learning about the MassArt Common Good Awards, visit www.massart.edu/massart-common-good-awards.

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About Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt)

Founded in 1873, Massachusetts College of Art and Design is the nation’s first public, independent college of art and design. The College is dedicated to fostering the creativity of artists, designers, and educators who will shape communities and culture for the common good.

About MassArt Common Good Awards

The MassArt Common Good Awards celebrate individuals and organizations who use art and design to make a positive impact on society. Honorees demonstrate the essential role of the arts in advocacy, education, and community development, contributing to the quality of life and problem-solving efforts in today’s world.