Gary X. (IN A NUTSHELL)
Gary is currently a sophomore at Columbia University studying physics and math. He has loved science and math from a young age, and has always been motivated by curiosity and a desire to research the unknown. His previous research experience includes working with a professor in Columbia's astrophysics department, where he spent time using python to write algorithms that analyzed large amounts of stellar data. He successfully produced results that showed correlations between several stellar variables and a star’s age. He is constantly searching for new topics in physics to learn about, whether it is scanning his textbook, watching youtube videos, or talking to his professors about their research. He currently has plans to work in an applied physics lab at Columbia over the summer where he will conduct experiments in solid state physics and analyze the quantum properties of different materials.
Gary also has a love for music and the arts. Having grown up in New York City, he frequented the numerous museums, concerts, and shows across the city. Most recently, he spent the past summer abroad in Paris, where he studied art and music humanities. He found it extremely rewarding to be immersed in the concerts and museums Paris had to offer, all while learning about the same musicians and artists present at the venues he had attended back in New York. While Gary enjoys seeing art performed and displayed firsthand, he also values being an active contributor to it. He has numerous years of experience playing piano, and sang in a children’s chorus for 10 years, where he performed all across the country, and won multiple international choral competitions. At Columbia, he currently sings in an all-low voice a cappella group, where he is the group's current music director. He takes passion in his singing and uses what he has learned in his past choral and piano experience to also help arrange songs for the groups performance repertoire.
Gary also enjoys staying active and playing sports, frequently going on hikes with his family, playing basketball with his friends, and cycling. Over quarantine, Gary picked up competitive road cycling, and participated in numerous races with a junior development team. He competed in many local races in New York City as well as larger races in the northeast. His proudest achievement as a racer was getting a top 10 finish at the Killington Stage Race in Vermont. At Columbia, he is currently the president of the club cycling team, where he helps plan the team schedule, manage the club’s budget, and design the kit.
