Melissa Dykhuis

Melissa Dykhuis, Ph.D., lives under the stars along the Colorado Front Range with her husband and two sons on land that traditionally belongs to the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Ute and Sioux people groups. She studied astronomy in her backyard with binoculars for six years before earning a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI, then earned her Ph.D. in planetary science from the University of Arizona in 2015. She now enjoys writing, music, artistic roller skating, and collaborating on asteroid research projects with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO. She published her debut fiction novel, Skate Cute, in May 2022, under the pen name of Melissa J. Roche, telling the sweet romance story of an astronomy grad student who finds unexpected love on her neighborhood skating rink.