Missoula Rabble, As a young girl Hilary always imagined what it would be like to hike around Mars. Now she's earning her PhD in geophysics at Cal Tech on a full-ride scholarship. She's just visiting for the week. This girl entered my life as my locker partner at age 10, became a lifelong friend, and continues to amaze me with each year. She's a humble genius. I asked her what her favorite planets were tonight. She had a hard time deciding. "Can I make it between Earth and Saturn?" she asked. She's also somewhat of a 'Glamour' girl. In 2007 she earned a spot as one of Glamour magazine's 'Top 10 College Women of the Year.' She flew to New York to be featured in the magazine. "I felt like a fashion model," she said. "I'm just a scientist." Hilary's interest in planetary science stemmed from her interest in the extraterrestrial life as a kid, which still exists today. "I think that out of all the billions of stars and planets in the universe, it seems more unlikely there isn't other life," she said. "We can't think that we're the only ones. There's billions of other stars like the sun. Why would we be the only ones?"
