Q: What are your physics/science interests?

Before this, I spent two summers researching nuclear weapon effects at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but I am very interested in astrophysics/cosmology/general relativity. I just read a book called “The Overstory”, and am now on a tree kick. I am currently making a video whose goal is to spark more compassion for trees.

Q: What are your other interests?

I am on the varsity swim team at Pomona, I am a part of the consortium’s climbing club, and I love hiking and swimming in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Last year I led one of Pomona’s orientation adventure trips for first years, and the year before that I was a live-in mentor called a “sponsor” for first year students.

Q: What would you like to do after college?

After college I would like to pursue a Ph.D. in some sort of physics.

Q: Tell us one strange but interesting fact about yourself.

One of my earlobes is detached and the other is attached, which means that I could have two sets of DNA (I could have eaten my twin in the womb), or I am just a mutant.

Q: What first sparked your interest in Physics?

I knew physics was my true love when I was watching Brian Greene’s TV documentary series which was a spin-off of his book “The Elegant Universe”. Each time he dropped another major scientific discovery on us, the hairs on the back of my arms stood on end, and I knew that if a field made me this excited, I had to pursue it.

Q: If you could have any pet, what would it be?

I kind of want chickens or a bunny.

Q: If you had a free month and unlimited funds, how would you spend your time?

If I had a free month and unlimited funds, I would want to hike up mountains around the world. I would use the money to pay guides and people to schedule the trip.

Q: If you could get a grant to study anything, what would it be?

If I had a grant to study anything, I would want to study general relativity or soil (I have no background in soil science and would not have any idea where to begin, but soil is extremely important to our lives as humans, and I find it interesting) or the intersection between physics/science and qigong (I took a qigong class last semester and learned a lot about Traditional Chinese Medicine. I think it is fascinating that traditional Chinese medicine has such a different “model” to describe the world, but it seems to work, just like physics has formed a model for the world that seems to work. But I’m not sure that either models can completely explain and describe everything, so it would be interesting to see if one could fill in the gaps for the other).