Biography

I was born November, 1994 in Bayshore, New York. Apart from a four block move when I was seven years old, I have lived in the same place for my entire life, and have no intention of leaving Long Island when I grow up. Although I think there are probably nicer places to live, the hurried lifestyle of the Island has grown on me, and at this point Im probably too impatient to live anywhere else.

I first became interested in physics during my years at Connetquot High School. I had always thought of myself as more of a math and science person than an English or social studies one, but until I took my first physics class in 11th grade, I thought of these fields as two separate things. To me, biology and chemistry, which I took in 9th and 10th grade, were just a lot of memorization, and didnt have much to do with math apart from balancing some basic equations. Then along came physics, which allowed me to incorporate it into my work on a regular basis. Since math had always come fairly naturally to me, but I had an interest in science as well, physics seemed like the perfect fit for me. (It may have also helped that my dad was very interested in physics and was constantly telling me about some new development that he had read about in an article somewhere.) Another thing that I have always liked about physics is that its easy to see how it affects any given person in everyday life. I dont need expensive equipment or a fancy lab to convince myself that it has important applications. As my high school teacher always said, Physics is everywhere.

As far as extracurricular activities go, I played varsity tennis, was a member of the Keep Islip Clean environmental program, played the flute in marching and concert band, and volunteered at a number of music-related events in high school. My favorite of these was the marching band, since it allowed all of us members to work together in a unique way to produce the best show we could. Over the years, many of the band members became somewhat of a second family to me. Being in the marching band also allowed me to perform in some pretty cool parades, such as the Columbus Day and St. Patricks Day ones in New York City, the National Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington D.C., and even a parade at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World in Orlando, Florida. All in all, it made for some pretty incredible experiences.

Now, I am a second-semester freshman here at Stony Brook. Although I have only declared my physics major so far, I am also interested in double majoring in applied mathematics. I feel that these two fields are highly interconnected, and are therefore a pretty logical combination. Additionally, I hope to get more involved in student organizations this semester at Stony Brook, since I was largely focusing on making the transition from high school to college last semester. Apart from that, I enjoy reading, playing video games, goofing off on the internet like every other teenager in America, and above all, spending time with my friends.