Moiya TcTier was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but spent most of her childhood living in a log cabin without running water in the small coal mining town of Waynesburg, PA. Moiya has a lot of diverse interests. So when she attended Harvard College, she double-majored in Astrophysics and Folklore & Mythology and then combined them to write a scientifically accurate fiction novel for her senior thesis. In her research, Moiya wants to determine whether or not certain planets outside of our solar system have the right conditions to host life. Moiya wants to figure out if our location in the galaxy is a coincidence. If there are spots within the galaxy where habitable exoplanets are most likely to form, Moiya would like to characterize and identify them so that any future galaxy-wide searches for extra-terrestrial life can be more efficient! After college, McTier moved to New York City to start graduate school in the Astrophysics Department at Columbia University.

My Scientific Name is a children's picture storybook developed in collaboration with female and minority scientists across many science fields. Each book is personalized using the letters of their name as a way of introducing them to many different STEM careers.