Jayke Nguyen

I was introduced to the cosmos at a young age and ever since I can remember I've had a passion for astronomy and astrophysics. I became certain in my career when I was gifted a dobsonian telescope at a young age. I felt my career path crystallize as I peered for hours at night into a small eyepiece under the stars. However, it wasn't until undergrad that I found mentors to help guide my career path in astronomy.

For my undergraduate career, I studied at UC Berkeley, graduating with two degrees in physics and astrophysics. I credit my success to patient graduate students and professors who took the time to foster my passions for astronomy. In particular, after taking a graduate course on exoplanets at Berkeley with a wonderful professor, I was inspired to pursue exoplanet research in my graduate career. After undergrad, I worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where I worked on adaptive optics systems and measuring brown dwarf parallaxes, giving me a solid research foundation in astronomy before applying to graduate school. My pursuits subsequently led me to the UC San Diego Physics PhD program. Here, at UCSD, I plan to perform research in the fields of exoplanet detection/characterization and adaptive optics. Beyond my own goals, I hope to help foster other potential astronomers in their career path as others have fostered mine.