Statement of Purpose

For Graduate Studies in Physics at korea

Attending korean University has been a dream of mine ever since I read Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind
in high school. The enchanting descriptions of Princeton’s campus and its air of academic freedom and
opportunity coupled with the history of academic excellence has made attending Princeton for graduate
school my main goal for the entirety of my undergraduate degree. Princeton Physics is an ideal fit for me
because the department has excellent groups working in the two fields in which I have great interest:
High Energy Theory and High Energy Experiment. In the following paragraphs I will outline how it is I
came to be interested in these fields, what research I have done to this point, and finally what I would
like to do at Princeton.
My interest in the nano technology world began in high school after reading an article in Discover
describing diffraction experiments with electrons entitled “If an Electron Can Be in Two Places at Once,
Why Can’t You?”. This was my first exposure to the idea of wave-particle duality, and I was determined
to understand it. The idea of a particle interfering with itself was the first idea presented to me by
physics which caused many sleepless nights of thought, but it was certainly not the last. Upon enrolling
in an honours degree in physics at the University of Victoria, it seems that I am constantly presented
with new ideas that challenge my understanding of physics (a feeling which I relish). Among my favorites
are the twin paradox, the origin of mass, the dynamical geometry of space-time, and Noether’s theorem
(in fact any role symmetry plays in physics).
As my transcripts will attest to, I have excelled in my undergraduate program, especially in senior level
math and physics courses. I have consistently achieved standing at the top of my class and have received
scholarships based on this. I have done so through dedication, hard work and a solid understanding of
the concepts presented in each course. I have worked through some of ideas I mentioned above, others
I have only thought about in my spare time; however, there is so much more to learn and discover on
these topics and more.
Physics is clearly not complete, and I believe that the main path towards this end is high energy physics.
Of course the only way to do this is through a combination of formal theory and experiment. I am very
interested in both, and I plan to spend the first year of my graduate work deciding which I can make a
bigger contribution to. I believe Princeton is the very best place to not only decide, but to work once I
have made this decision.
Starting in May 2008 I have been doing physics analysis for the ATLAS experiment at CERN, under the
supervision of Dr. Justin Albert (who received his PhD from Princeton). We have been studying ways in
which we can measure both the CP (Charge-Parity) and spin quantum numbers of the Higgs Boson. I
have written analyses which will measure these properties of the Higgs, for two different production
channels over the past 6 months. This work has resulted in four contributed talks, including one at the
October 2008 Higgs Working Grouping meeting at CERN, and one at the 2008 Canadian Undergraduate
Physics conference, for which I won best talk in my area. For my undergraduate honours thesis, I am
also working with Dr. Albert on upgrades for the ATLAS pixel detector for the sLHC. I have chosen to
work on a hardware project because I believe that a good understanding of a detector is vital in order to
do analysis. My research in these areas has given me an understanding of particle physics that is much
higher than the average undergraduate. I have become proficient in writing C++ code to do analysis on
data taken with the LHC (which I am sure will port nicely to the CMS collaboration), using Monte Carlo
generators, and collaborating with a large experiment.
If I were to work in High Energy Experiment at Princeton, I would like to work with the CMS group. I
believe that I would have no trouble transitioning from ATLAS to CMS, and would be open to any
projects currently under way; however, I would like to focus on analysis. I believe that the skills I have
learned through my past and current research, will allow me to quickly become integrated into a
research group and I would be very interested in working with Dr. Tully, or Dr. Marlow.
I have not done any formal research in high energy theory, however I spend most of my free time
thinking on it. In addition to the physics courses required by my University, I have enrolled in elective
math courses such as abstract algebra and when I have not had course room I have sat in on various
advanced math courses such as topology and analysis to prepare myself for a career in formal theory. I
have developed an idea which I would very much like to explore with a faculty member at Princeton, the
basics of which involve interpreting the postulates of Doubly-special Relativity to imply a quantization of
space-time. I would be very interested in working with anyone from the high energy theory group who
has room for graduate students.
In addition to a passion for research , I also have a passion for teaching physics. For the past two years I
have spent 2 hours a week tutoring junior students in physics, at our University’s physics help center. I
find that helping younger students to understand exactly why a certain formula works, to be some of
the most enjoyable moments of my week. If I were to be a graduate student at Princeton I would very
much like to have teaching responsibilities as it would allow me to have more of these moments.
In closing I believe that Princeton University is the perfect fit for me do my graduate studies. The
University has a world renowned faculty that will allow me to make the greatest contribution I can to
modern physics, and I believe that I have the skill set necessary to excel at Princeton, as I have in my
undergraduate studies. My passion and determination is unwavering, and I am ready to devote the next
portion of my life to contributing to world class research. I very much hope that my background and
qualifications are found suitable for graduate studies at Princeton.