Elenna Capote

"I was a yoga teacher for about four years before and during the start of graduate school. I started practicing yoga as a way to exercise, but was talked into joining a teacher training at my local studio. I turned it into a part time job and became pretty good at it, and I was even asked to coach some teacher trainings towards the end. This background has actually given me great skills in public speaking and interacting with lots of different people. People from all walks of life will come into the yoga studio, and it is important as their teacher to connect with each one of them in some way. You also have to be clear, concise, and gentle in the way that you direct students in this kind of activity. This has actually served me very well in science because there can be so much communication involved. I think I am somewhat rare in that I really enjoy giving talks. One of my favorite activities at the detector site is to lead public tours, it gives me that experience again of interacting with all sorts of people. Leading those kinds of tours actually puts you on the spot- you have no idea the background and understanding of the people joining the tour. I enjoy that challenge! I get asked all sorts of questions that I wouldn’t think of on my own, and I have to quickly respond. Every time I lead a tour, I come away with a renewed sense of love for the work that I do and the people I get to do it with."

Elenna Capote is a postdoctoral researcher for the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech and the LIGO Hanford Observatory. She works on detector commissioning and upgrades, specifically targeting low noise operation and high power. Outside of research, she loves baking (pies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies), going for long walks, doing embroidery, and yoga. She is also very invested in multiple Stardew Valley farms.