EDUCATION
- Recieved a BS in Physics from the University of California Santa Cruz(2021)
- Recieved a BA in Mathematics from the University of California Santa Cruz(2021)
- Pursuing a PhD in Physics at West Virginia University(2021-Present)
TALKS
APS Far West Section (2 November 2019)
EXPERIENCE
Graduate Research Assistant (2022-Present)
The sun ejects hot gasses composed of charged particles, called plasmas, towards Earth. After impacting Earth’s protective magnetic field, the magnetosphere, these plasmas can cause geomagnetic storms that affect space, air, and ground based technology. These storms, collectively called space weather, have destroyed Starlink satellites and even jammed critical communications during the Cold War. In order to predict and prevent future space weather disasters, a fundamental understanding of the plasma in every environment is necessary. I study how plasma ejected from the sun, called the solar wind, converts energy into heat. My current work uses the particle-in-cell code VPIC to simulate two-dimensional plasmas, a numerical analog of the solar wind, and study energy conversion using a channel unaccounted for in previous work.
Graduate Teaching Assistant (2021-2022)
During my first year as a graduate student, I taught undergraduates classical mechanics during a weekly lab. This included reviewing or introducing class material, teaching students how to set up experiments, teaching students how to record data, teaching students how to analyze data, and teaching students how to link physics theory to physical experiments.
Undergraduate Research (2019-2021)
Starting in my sophomore year of college I joined a high energy astrophysics group led by Proffesor David Williams. There I worked on compiling an 11 year light-curve, an average flux versus time graph, for the blazar Markarian 421 using gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. A more detailed explanation of this research and my subsequent senior thesis can be found in here.
Business Manager (2018-2019)
I built a recreational gymnastics curriculum for ages 5 to 16 in order to revitalize Ohana Gymnastics recreational program. While in charge of hiring and training staff, I succesfully increased enrollment from 30 to 130 students in three months, pushing the business into the black. In summer 2019 I passed on my managerial responsibilities so I could pursue my college education and gymnastics career more rigorously.
Collegiate Gymnast (2017-2020)
I am a founding Member of Northern California United, a self-funded college gymnastics team competing under NCAA rules and competing against NCAA teams but under the umbrella organization gym-ACT. I competed in my Freshmen, Sophomore, and Junior year and was team captain for all three seasons.
Gymnastics Coach (2015-2019)
I coached gymnasts for Ohana Gymnastics starting in 2015, and in summer 2018 and summer 2019 I coached athletes ages 10 to 30 at Woodward West action sports camp. I worked with and learned from the olympians Dmitry Bilozerchev, Jason Gatson, Betty Okino, Danell levya, Jonathan Horton, Brazilian national team member Fabricio Olsson, and Northern California state Chairwoman Michelle Huffman. To this day I still teach private lessons.
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Ron Ruby Scholarship Award for undergraduate research - Link to website(2020)
- University of California Santa Cruz Dean’s Honors List: 2018 Fall - 2019 Spring - Link to website(2019)
- All American Award from the College Gymnastics Association(2019)
