Q: What are your physics/science interests?

I like a lot of topics in theoretical physics. On the one hand, I’m really interested in what’s going on inside protons—Sakurai and Napolitano states that the ‘force’ holding two quarks together is about 1.6x10^5 N, enough to lift three full-grown African elephants. That’s crazy! On the other hand, I also think superconductors, superfluids, and stat mech more generally are really interesting.  

Q: What are your other interests?

I love to read (this summer I’ve been binge-reading Virginia Woolf books), draw (I illustrate for a sci-fi magazine at my school), write, go on hikes, and spend time with people (and dogs) I care about.   

Q: What would you like to do after college?

After college, I plan to go to grad school. Of course, I’m still young, and who knows who I’ll be in six years, but currently I see myself pursuing a career in academia.  

Q: Tell us one strange but interested fact about yourself?

When I was a kid, I was really into dinosaurs. I learned at probably age 3 or 4 that dinosaurs walked on their toes. No one told me, though, that we people walk on our heels. Long story short, I permanently messed up my knees by toe-walking for about 9 years. 

Q: What first sparked your interest in Physics?

Honestly, I’m not sure when I first realized physics was interesting. Maybe it was in my 10th grade physics class when we learned about energy conservation, and every problem became a million times easier. I really started loving physics when I studied Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics my second year of college—somehow I ended up on the Wikipedia page for the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, and that blew my mind. All these people were so creative! 

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

It’d be cool to have a prairie dog or a hyrax, but my dog Chewie is the perfect pet.  

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

I’d probably give like trillions of dollars to people who I think could make the world a better place (although who am I to decide what ‘a better place’ means), then maybe spend the rest of the month going to cool places and eating expensive food. 

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

Crow language. I’m convinced they communicate, and we really should invest more resources in figuring out how they do it. I encourage everyone to look this up, it’s fascinating and kinda scary.