Academic and Research Experience

UMD Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, College Park, MD, June 2006 - May 2007
Developed J2EE web applications to interact with an LDAP infrastructure. Migrated and maintained existing J2EE web applications. Assisted in maintaining HPC Linux clusters utilizing MPI and Condor.

UMD Experimental Nuclear Physics Group, Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA, January 2006
Assembled the neutron detector for the GeN experiment in a multy-national environment. Completed DoE's RadWorker I radiation training.

Memberships and Activities

Pi Beta Kappa Honor Society
Banneker / Key Scholar
University of Maryland Honors Citation
National Merit Scholar
UMD Putnam math competition team
UMD Academic Quiz Team
Webmaster for Terrapin Astronomical Society

Skills and Certifications

Operating Systems: Linux, UNIX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Computer Languages: Java 6, C, Perl, JSP, XHTML, CSS, Fortran, MPI, C++, Python, Pascal, LATEX, SQL
Software Packages: Mathematica, MATLAB, IDL, STK, IDA Pro, LAPACK, GSL

Honors and Awards

Graduated with Departmental High Honors
Held TOP SECRET security clearance

Hobbies and Interests

Cycling, hiking, camping, legos, model rockets, programming (yes, it's my hobby), quiz bowl, racquetball, board games, reading, cryptology (codebreaking), percussion, water skiing

Personal Statement

Of all the famous quotations from the twentieth century, I find Kennedy’s address on our race to the moon to be the most inspiring. I have not chosen to pursue an education and career in science because such things are easy, but rather because I revel in the challenges they offer. Mathematics, astronomy, and fundamental physics are my particular academic interests, accompanied by several in the liberal arts, the study of which I firmly support. While the rigors of learning and joys of new knowledge are appealing to me on their own, they additionally enable me to harness a wealth of human ingenuity to improve both life here on Earth and our understanding of the wider universe.

I am drawn to the aerospace industry and to NASA in particular because of the opportunities it offers to combine state-of-the-art technology and computer systems with theoretical and experimental physics and because of its potential to explore mankind’s final frontier. In such an environment I could exercise my programming and design talents while simultaneously working to expand our knowledge of physics. No occupation evokes a greater feeling of overcoming incredible challenges with the power of the human mind than that of “rocket scientist.” Combining pure science, applied engineering, and the fulfillment of civic duty, the US Space Program appeals to all of my strongest ambitions, and in pursuing a graduate education in astrophysics at Cornell I hope to prepare myself for a lifetime of contributing to its mission of exploration and discovery.