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From my youthful days of chaotic experimentation, to the adolescent years of learning the

theoretical rigor behind physics, my passion for physics has kept growing stronger, and I can say with

confidence that in college, at UC Berkeley, I was able to strike a balance between my interests in

experimentation and focusing on theoretical work. As a freshman at UC Berkeley, I was able to work as a

research apprentice for my physics professor, Adrian Lee, in his research in cosmological

instrumentation, which was geared towards detecting CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) radiationlevels. For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to program and control actual equipment;

specifically, the POLARbear telescope my professor had set up in Chile. By working on the telescope, I

had quickly gained programming skills, especially when it came to being able to interpret real time graphs

from the telescope of the positions of astronomical objects. My work is far from over, and I am pleased to

say that I will be continuing as a research apprentice for the rest of the year, and my next project is a

mechanical design project on the telescope. Being given this opportunity, especially as a freshman in

college, was something I could never fathom when I was in high school, and now that I am able to help

my professor with his research in UC Berkeley, I am beginning to discover how amazing experimental

work in physics can be.

The research in astrophysics and cosmology that I am doing this academic year has greatlyinfluenced my interests in what fields in physics I would like to pursue. After looking at starcharts, data

from the telescope, and interesting weekly discussions about data from bolometers, my interest in

astrophysics has vastly increased. I now find myself spending time in the library, when I am not in the

research lab doing work, poring over books on CMB, gravitational lensing, and reviewing general

relativity. Because of the experimental work that I do, I am now leaning towards becoming an

experimental physicist rather than a theoretical one, and I am certainly considering studying astrophysics.

At the same time however, I have gained an appreciation for research in elementary particles, especially

due to the rapid developments the field has undergone within the past couple of months with the

discovery of the Higgs Boson. At this point in my academic career, I have come at a crossroads between

studying either astrophysics or elementary particles, but recently, I have come to realize that both the

fields of physics are interrelated. Research in one field, such as astrophysics, can be supplemental to

research being done in elementary particles. I hope that in the future, I can become an experimental

physicist who can perhaps do research in both fields, and work on a project that is specifically geared

towards the connection between astrophysics and elementary particles. In order to do this, I am focused

on going to graduate school in the future, obtaining masters as well as a doctorate or PhD afterwards in

physics. I am determined to make contributions to both astrophysics and elementary particles.

Because of my research work in astrophysics this year, I am enthusiastic about continuing to do

research year round in physics. I wish to continue studying physics through discovery, working on the

forefront, by doing experimental work that can make a significant contribution to the field of physics.

Research is the cornerstone of all successful work that has been done in physics, and I believe the REUprogram that UC Davis offers can help me realize this. I am also extremely enthusiastic about the

research projects in cosmology, experimental particle physics, and theoretical particle physics and

relativity. The research project in cosmology being led by Dr. Lloyd Knox on Cosmic Microwave

Background radiation is a project I am definitely interested in, specifically because I have experience in

doing research on CMB, working with different cosmological instrumentation. By working on this

project, I hope to not only contribute my knowledge on CMB from the research group I currently work

with at UC Berkeley, but I also hope to learn more about creating visualizations of gravitationally-driven

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sound waves, and I understand this requires the use of programming language such as C++. I currently

have a working knowledge of Python which I used to interpret data from the POLARbear telescope, but I

am willing to learn C++ in order to contribute to this fascinating project. Another research project that I

am keen on working on is the experimental particle physics project being led by Professors Bob Svoboda

and Mani Tripathi on the Large Underground Xenon project. This project appeals to my interest in being

able to do hands-on experimentation because the project will allow students to build and operate a testfacility for new in-water light sensors. Most importantly, it allows me to pursue another field of physics

which I am eager to do research in: particle physics. Lastly, the condensed matter experiment research

project being led by Professor Rena Zieve on superfluid vortices is also of great interest to me, because of

the hands-on experimentation involved, specifically with setting up cells for measurements and analyzing

previously collected data and using a pumped 3He refrigerator to cool below 1 Kelvin. One reason why I

am also eager to contribute to this research project was because this semester, I had to work with a grad

student on building a thermometer that would use carbon composite resistors and a copper metal strop so

that it would be able to measure the temperature of liquid 3He as it cooled gradually from 300 K to 77 K.

The primary purpose of this project was to measure the effects of quantum tunneling, and this project

involved a great deal of hands-on work in the lab, especially when it came to dealing with liquid 3He and

liquid nitrogen.

By coming to UC Davis for the REU program, I wish to continue pursuing experimental physics,

and gain a greater understanding of the skills needed to continue experimental work in physics. Hopefully

one day, I will be able to work on projects involving both research in cosmology and particle physics, and

I believe UC Davis REU program can give me the skills I need to achieve that goal.