Education

Pomona College (2020-2024) Claremont, CA

• Overall GPA: 3.96
• Double majors: English and Physics
• Minor: Philosophy
• Affiliation groups and campus community volunteerism: FLI (first-gen, low-income mentor) mentor, AAMP (Asian-American mentoring program) mentor, first-year sponsor, writing center partner
• Workshops: Universiy of Arizona Winter Optics School 2023

Stuyvesant High School (2016-2020) New York City, NY

• Activities: Zero Robotics co-captain and 2019 champions, Stuyvesant Spectator business manager, StuyFem board director, Track & Field athlete, Google Mentorship program mentee, Staten Island Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

STEM Experience

Pomona College McCluskey Lab (2023-Present) Claremont, CA
First Student

• Building a CoSMoS-type total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope (TIRFM) for high-resolution experiments
• Putting the lab together from an empty room, assisting Professor Kaley McCluskey in developing each lab component from scratch

Université Catholique de Louvain (2023-2023) Louvain-la-Neuve and Liège, Belgium
REU Student

• Investigated the effect of a known perturbation of the LIGO interferometer to the output of the phase camera, a recently installed wavefront sensor at Advanced Virgo
• Compared the phase camera to another mode matching technique in a simple and coupled cavity to prepare these techniques for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors

Air Force Research Laboratories (2022-2022) Albuquerque, NM
Research Assistant

• Generated an electro-optic frequency comb in the RF and visible spectrums, focusing on low noise sources
• Studied dual-comb interferograms for precision timing applications

Whitaker Labs (2022-2023) Claremont, CA
Biophysics Student Researcher

• Simulated sphagnum moss vortex ring spore dispersal in ANSYS to study the exploding capsule’s effect on the seeds’ gyroscopic mechanics, bursting pressure, capsule morphology, and vortex ring formation
• Analyzed past students’ work on computational models of the explosions, carried out using 2-D large eddy simulations on FLUENT, which reproduced the observed motion of spore clouds observed with high-speed videos

RAISE (2021-2021) Claremont, CA
Independent Researcher

• Sponsored by Pomona College to complete an independent student research project called the "Utility of STEM" under the guidance of Professor Elijah Quetin
• Researched the question "Why do we study how to get to Mars when there are problems on Earth that demand attention?" through the lens of science-fiction literature and philosophy

Stuynaught Zero Robotics (2018-2020) New York City, NY
Co-captain

• Competed in a a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) inside the International Space Station
• Won the 2019 championships, where an astrunaut conducted the cde live in microgravity aboard the ISS
• Competed against teams across the US and member states of the European Space Agency

Outreach

ALPhA: Awesome Lxdies* in Physics and Astronomy (2021-Present) Claremont, CA
Founder and President

• Refounded the organization from a pre-covid pandemic halt
• Renamed and asterisked the organization from its previous name to “lxdies*” in its refounding in order to openly welcome folks of all marginalized genders and not only AFABs (assigned-females-at-birth)
• Handled all expenses and financial operations of the club and raised $5000 in independent funding during the club's first year of establishment
• Hosted weekly lunches for physics students of marginalized genders to consciousness-raise or simply lean back on regularly
• Organized trips to off-campus conferences and laboratories highlighting women in physics for students to meet role models
• Planned events about gender-based DEI like a "What's feminism for?" event to put men into the conversation of how they can support feminism in STEM and why the patriarchy also affects men

Pomona College Department of Physics PHYS009 (2021-Present) Claremont, CA
Student mentor and PHYS009 lead class facilitator

• Hosted mentor sessions and learning community sessions to mentor both major and non-major students in mechanics, electricity & magnetism, relativity, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics
• Learned evidence-based and inclusivity-motivated pedagogy strategies in the course PHYS009: Peer Mentoring in STEM, taken 6 times throughout 2020-2023, which were relayed into my teaching at mentor sessions
• Led the class PHYS009 as a lead student facilitator to teach other students about peer mentoring pedagogy,
• Planned weekly lessons for PHYS009, including a training for new mentors into the department

Pomona College Wxmen's Union (2020-Present) Claremont, CA
Head Coordinator

• Hosted weekly office hours, an open and safe space of care and rest for women, non-binary, and genderqueer folks
• Planned social and student wellbeing events for the Women’s Union staffers like Open Mic nights
• Organized talks about current social justice and about relevant social engagement issues on the Claremont campus

American Physical Society Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (APS-IDEAS) (2022-2023) Claremont, CA
Student volunteer

• One of three students in the founding stages of the national APS-IDEAS chapter at Pomona College
• Helped the creation of a course called PHYS139: Mathematical Methods for Physics, meant to support minority students who come from underprivileged schools and need support in the math skills needed for our introductory physics sequence

Humanities Experience

Humanities Studio Fellowship (2023-2024) Claremont, CA
Undergraduate Student Fellow

• One of six students awarded the undergraduate fellows program, an engagement for senior thesis research through a series of weekly seminar discussions, as well as to participate in the Studio’s program of visiting speakers, professional development workshops, and other campus and community events.
• Engaged in interdisicplinary discussion of the 2023-2024 theme of "Joy"
• Selected to host an event in conversation with author and poet Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Pomona College Linguistics & Chinese Department (2020-2021) Claremont, CA
Research Assistant

• Assisted Linguistics x Chinese Professor Feng Xiao in developing a course called “Chinese in the Working World”
• Edited Volume 5 of a Chinese Teaching Journal
• Conducted a scholarly literature search on second language acquisition

New-York Historical Society (2019-2019) New York City, NY
Tech Scholar

• Explored how women across the spectrum of race, class, and sexuality exercised power and effected change in history
• Researched the legacies of historical figures that shaped the American experience through the 2019 displays in the museum, such as Stonewall50
• Designed and built a digital project that displayed Keith Haring’s effect on the LGBTQ+, Art, & Nightlife communities

New York City Council (2018-2019) New York City, NY
Intern for Council Member Margaret Chin

• Worked with government agencies to conduct policy and legislative research
• Assisted staff with constituent intakes, translating between Mandarin to English
• Attended community events and City Council meetings to record notes

Skills

• Programming: Javascript, HTML/CSS, C++, Flask, Git, SQLAlchemy, LaTeX
• Data Analysis: Python, Java, SQL, Ansys (FLUENT), Mathematica, Pandas, Matlab, Plotly, Excel
• Languages: professional Mandarin, elementary French

Awards

• Alfred Kwok Memorial Physics Prize (2023)
• F. S. Jennings Prize in Critical Writing (2023)
• Tileston First-year Prize in Physic (2020-2021)
• Pomona College Scholar (Fall 2020, Spring 2023)
• Greater New York Dollars for Scholars: New York Life Scholarship Award recipient (2020-2024)
• Chia Family Foundation Scholarship Award recipient (2022-2024)