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Can you describe your experience at the Gatton Academy?
The Academy was a life changing experience that allowed me to grow both academically and professionally. Specifically, living with passionate and scientifically minded peers allowed me to develop a new appreciation for science and mathematics. Attending the Gatton Academy was a once in a life time opportunity. It helped me shape and define my future career as a scientist.
How have your experiences at the Gatton Academy helped you in your adult life?
While at the Gatton Academy I learned skills that I will utilize throughout my life. I learned to write code, integrate and differentiate functions, work in a lab, create deadlines, manage resources, present my work at scientific conferences, and more importantly ask for help. I use these skills everyday as an aspiring physicist.
Since the Academy, what have you been up to?
Currently, I am attending Auburn University pursuing a dual degree in Wireless Engineering and Physics. Along with my formal academic studies, I have been working on a research team that is investigating highly energized lithium plasma. Finally, I have become quite active in the Society of Physics Students at Auburn University.
What do you aspire to achieve in the next ten years?
In the next few years, I will be graduating from Auburn University. After I complete my undergraduate studies, I plan on earning doctorate in physics. Eventually, I hope to become a professor/researcher at a university.
What was your favorite memory from your time at the Gatton Academy?
I do not have a single favorite memory from the Gatton Academy. While attending the Academy, I developed new “favorite” memories almost every day. Nevertheless, here are a few of my “most favorite” memories: cooking bacon in every microwave on my wing, winning the scavenger hunt every year, generating random graphs in the lobby, and having my next-semester courses approved by April Gaskey.
