"Being outside in the sunshine, even when it’s snowy... I don’t know, I just really love it. The weather makes me happy. I’m from Hawaii, so I had never really gotten to experience winter until I came here. This is my second year, but last year wasn’t much of a winter. So being here, getting outside in all this snow—that’s what gets me up and going.
Since I was really young, I’ve been interested in astronomy and space. I’m studying applied physics at RPI with a concentration in space science. I also do research in California during the summer at one of the UC schools there, which a great experience. Right now, I’m taking a lot of core curriculum because I’m a sophomore; but I got to take an astrophysics class this semester and loved it. I want to build telescopes and satellites and instrumentation for space ships, things like that. That’s the side of it that I really like."