Elevate Student Spotlight
Meet Cadence Centers: Teaching AI to Read the Stars
AI major. Astrophysics minor. A summer of machine-learning research on the 35th floor of the Hancock Tower — and a Ph.D. now in his sights.
For his first college summers, Cadence Centers went home to Vermont and worked as an arborist alongside his father. This summer, the Illinois Tech junior — an artificial intelligence major minoring in astrophysics — spent his days on the 35th floor of the Hancock Tower, building a machine-learning model that helps astronomers decide where in the universe to look next. He did it as part of the inaugural cohort of SEED, the SkAI Institute’s undergraduate research program, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation. He presented the work to the NSF, kept his access to a national supercomputer, and came home with a new plan: a Ph.D. We sat down with Cadence to hear how he made it happen.
“If you surround yourself with people you aspire to be like, you’ll never fail. You lift each other up — you elevate each other.”
Cadence Centers · Junior, Artificial Intelligence & Astrophysics
Q. What were you actually working on this summer — in one sentence?
“I was developing a machine-learning model that analyzes stellar structure evolution — how a star and its composition change over time — and my specific job was anomaly detection in the latent space of a variational autoencoder. If we understand these stars better, we can figure out where in the universe to look for new astronomical events that haven’t been detected yet.”
Q. How did you find an opportunity like this?
“I went to my physics professor’s office hours. I told her I was majoring in AI but I loved astrophysics, and it turned out she was directing a program designed for exactly that fusion — I was part of the inaugural cohort. The biggest piece of advice I can give is talk to your professors. They’ve lived in the field, worked in the field, connected in the field. If anyone knows about opportunities that aren’t posted, it’s your professors.”
Q. Be honest — was it just timing?
“There was a little right-place, right-time — but you’ll never be in the right place at the right time if you don’t get to the place first. I’d built a strong resume leading up to it: clubs and executive boards, a startup, work experience, and my Elevate checklist items — a complete LinkedIn profile, an optimized resume — and I knew how to talk about my achievements through my Elevate coaching. All of that manifested into the opportunity presenting itself.”
Q. What was the day-to-day really like?
“Three weeks of training — Python, PyTorch, machine learning, how to use a high-performance computer — then real research: building the model, running it on the Delta AI supercomputer, weeks of hyperparameter tuning, and finally presenting a poster at a symposium and to the National Science Foundation. Along the way we visited the Adler Planetarium, Fermilab, and Yerkes Observatory, and did science-communication workshops with Northwestern professors. Some days it was just taking the bus to the tower, powering up the laptop, and doing good work next to my peers.”
“If something doesn’t happen, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It just means it hasn’t happened yet.”
Q. Is a Ph.D. in your future now?
“Before this research, I wasn’t even considering graduate school — I was going straight to industry. After it, I’m heavily considering a Ph.D. right after college. My mentors showed me what it’s actually like, and with the network I’ve built at Northwestern, my goal is to apply there.”
Q. What would you say to students who think research is only for the 4.0s?
“You’re as good as you think you are. It’s not down to the person — it’s down to ambition and your perception of self-worth. If you’re a 2.0 student who thinks you have a shot and you’re willing to apply yourself, it’s absolutely for you. The negativity alone is enough to make you not achieve it — not because you’re not good enough, but because you’re not willing to give yourself a shot.”
Q. One thing a student can do this week to follow in your footsteps?
“Learn how to market yourself, and lean into your applications — tailor each one like you’re going to get in. Talk to professors and people who have the job you want. And if you don’t have the experience yet, start building it — Elevate is a perfect spot to start. Talk to your career coaches about what you might be interested in. I didn’t get anything my freshman year, and that’s totally fine.”
Cadence, In Photos
Why Elevate
Cadence walked into that office-hours conversation already prepared — the polished LinkedIn, the optimized resume, and the coaching to talk about his achievements were Elevate checklist items he’d completed along the way. Ask him what Elevate does for him now and the answer is one word: accountability. “I have something that ensures I’m giving my best work and staying true to the things I already want to be doing.” Next on his list: Chicago’s growing quantum ecosystem, and the Elevate experiences that open a door into it — whatever your discipline.
Elevate, Your Future.
Your right place, right time starts with getting to the place. Elevate can take you there.
Interview conducted by Illinois Tech Career Services; answers edited and condensed for clarity.
