This is the first paragraph of my statement. I might post the rest if this sparks any interest. (:

I find it increasingly hard to live without the speculation of life elsewhere in the Cosmos. How could it be that a single planet, orbiting a single star, revolving around a single arm of a single galaxy, in a single galaxy cluster is unique? The further I dive into the Cosmos, the more humble I become, and subsequently, the further my desire to dive even deeper. It is fascinating that something so complex, so utterly, unimaginably multifaceted could occupy the thoughts of a twenty something year old more than anything else in the world. It is precisely because of this complexity that it occupies my mind. Astronomy and astrophysics have become my passion. I want to know more at all times; I have an insatiable appetite for astrophysics. Looking up at the stars for most people is inspiring every once in a while, but often taken for granted. For me, looking up at the stars can be quite dangerous. Minutes translate into hours as body heat uniformly dissipates from everywhere except my head, because my mind is spinning immeasurably fast in immense battles of neurotransmitters and chemical reactions creating more heat than even the sun, or so it feels.

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I want to give the human race a greater sense of humility by putting their position on the grand scale of things into perspective.  Those in the general public are not aware of the awe inspiring depth of our universe, beyond the pretty pictures they see every once in a while in a chain e-mail.  Why is that?  Is it because they do not want to know, or is it because we are not doing an adequate job showing them?  I cannot accept the former, for every person who gives me time enough to share information with them basks in the majestic, humbling, and eye opening qualities.  This leads my reasoning to the latter.  I will usher change where others have finished trying.

Here at Furman, I have selfishly taken all resources pertaining to the subject and available to me.  Last summer, I went with Physics Professor David Moffett, to the 1-week Educational Research in Radio Astronomy [ERIRA] in Green Bank, WV, before beginning my research with Physics Professor Bill Baker back at Furman.  I rejuvenated Professor Baker’s study of the evolution of globular star clusters by creating a parallel version of his Mathematica program to run across several machines, thereby subdividing the problem and enhancing his very limited scope.  This past fall, I worked with Computer Science Professor Hayden Porter to rewrite this globular star cluster program in Java and use the Message Passing Interface [MPI] to run it on a Beowulf class computer cluster.  I then created a 3D graphical environment to study and interact with the cluster as it evolves over time, based on data sets collected from the cluster.  This research won 2^nd prize at the Association for Computing Machinery Mid-Southeast Fall Conference in 2007 in the Undergraduate 4-Year division.  In the spring of 2007, I worked with Professor Porter drafting a proposal that I submitted to the South Carolina Space Grant Consortium to develop a dynamically configurable computer cluster for the purpose of studying the influence of dark matter on stellar star cluster formation and evolution.  My proposal was only one of eight funded statewide in South Carolina. On top of all of this, we have just finished construction of a new planetarium, which will soon become the bearer of some of my next projects.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill offers new resources that were previously unavailable to me, such as the opportunity to work on the SkyNet project.  This project has already produced a great deal of results of interest to me, especially with parsing Gamma Ray Bursts and identifying Supernovae.  Think about it:  you have a completely remote ability that can be automated such that as soon as a notification goes off, there are mere seconds between that message and ensuing action.  This is absolutely phenomenal for studying GRB’s, and I am certain this system can either be of use or at least aid the more exquisite problem I outline below.

I want to probe the heavens.  Beyond mere statistical probabilities that confirm our planet’s lacking uniqueness to many, including myself; I want to explain this fact in a way that can be convincing for the non-numerically inclined, less-analytical type mind.  In our hunt for extra solar planets, we find it progressively more difficult because of the sheer size differential of stars and planets.  I believe Nature contends that there has to be a simpler approach, and I hope to one day provide such an approach.  My goal is to utilize, either partially or wholly, the SkyNet project to accomplish this task.  I hope to bring my skills and intellect to the university in an effort to further both the University and myself.