Jerry L. (IN A NUTSHELL)

I am a junior studying physics at Yale. There, I have taken numerous math, physics, and computer science courses and have been especially passionate about those subjects. In the long term, I hope to pursue a PhD and go into academia for physics. In my many years as a student so far, I have started to understand which learning methods are the most effective for me and I intend to impart these ways to others. Most importantly, I have discovered that learning is an exciting, joyous process and I hope to share this sentiment with the next generation of students.

I grew up in a small town in Connecticut only around 30 minutes outside of New Haven where Yale is located. As a little kid, I remember spending weekends at Yale, whether it was to listen to talks for young students, attend science competitions, or wander about the fascinating assortment of museums. In particular, I remember learning about space and black holes for the first time and being fascinated (a bit scared too) by the concept of infinity. It was then that my curiosity began to develop, and it has been a fundamental part of me ever since.

In high school, I was involved with a number of extracurriculars. I played viola for the school orchestra, was a varsity soccer player and fencer, and was class president for four years. I also participated in many of the popular high school math or science competitions and became quite familiar with those processes. In the end, I earned a Regeneron STS Scholar (top 300) distinction, was an AIME qualifier, was the highest scorer in the local, county-wide math league, and was the salutatorian of my high school.

As a college student, I am a project lead for the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association CubeSat (an engineering project/team aiming to launch a real satellite to space) and am involved with computational astrophysics research, where I study the evolution of galaxies and black holes over time to better understand the history of the universe. Outside of academic interests, I have kept up my love for soccer by playing for a club team at Yale and have been learning again to play piano, which I used to do as a kid. I have also been practicing French in my free time, as I am planning to study abroad in Paris in the near future!