Dakotah Tyler started watching astronomy documentaries while rehabilitating a knee injury. He developed a fascination with the cosmos after realizing that his life – just like many planets and stars – was a mere speck in the infinite expanse of the universe.

Over 11 years later, Tyler dedicated his life to studying exoplanets in distant galaxies. And yet, as a Black Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics and a teaching assistant at UCLA, students consistently ask him one question: “Do you play a sport?”

“I’ve never had anybody walk up to me and ask me if I was an astronomer, which is what I actually am.”
While Tyler is not offended when he hears this recurring question, he often ponders the implications of this being students’ first thought.