Dr. Cassandra (Cassie) Fallscheer followed her passion for math into the stars. While studying high-energy particle physics in college, she was awestruck after attending a talk on astronomy. It was then that she was drawn to the beauty and mystery of the cosmos and her small place in the vastness of the universe. She hasn’t stopped looking up since. Lucky for us, her passion included sharing a closer view with the rest of us. Her non-profit, The Asterisk Observatory, partnered with a local landowner “to allow people to appreciate and learn about the dark skies of Oregon” from the rim of the Lower Gorge near Smith Rock State Park.