About

Me and Laura in front of Mt. Whitney in Alabama Hills.

Skip to short professional summary.

Personal

I seem to always be changing but people often describe me as energetic, funny, and open. I love traveling, cooking, sports, gardening, and spending time with my partner Laura. I try to value relationships & experiences more than stuff. I want to be remembered as someone with a big heart.

Insight Meditation practice has and continues to change my life for the better.

My Story

I was born in Tokyo, Japan. My mom was born here while my grandpa was at CalTech 1, which enables me to be a US citizen2. Balancing my Japanese roots with my American upbringing was challenging but rewarding.

Grew up in Hawaii which is a gentle, beautiful place. Blessed to have grown up there.

Moved to Northern California in 2008. I went to a hippy-arts type of High School in Sacramento. I played sports & loved doing theatre. I also love Sac!

UC Berkeley / East Bay. At Berkeley, I was mostly interested in clean energy (statistics was a secondary interest). After college, I worked for a major solar energy developer.

Big Changes. In 2019, let go from what I thought was my dream job. I went on an amazing trip to SE Asia. I also began dating Laura & started to seriously meditate: these three things I think have been the best things that have ever happened to me.

Back in Sacramento. Moved back right before Covid. Worked at the State Government which made me believe in the importance of people with technical skills in civil service.

Now: Currently a PhD student splitting my time between Sacramento & Santa Cruz. I play softball, meditate, and garden on my spare time.

Short Professional Summary

For a full professional summary please see my CV or my resume .

EXPERIENCE

  • Teaching Assistant, Sept. 2021 - Current
    • UC Santa Cruz, Statistics Department
  • Research Data Analyst II, Oct. 2020—Jun, 2021.
    • CA. Dept. of Healthcare Services, Local Government Financing
  • Staff Research Associate, Oct. 2019—Jul. 2020.
    • Dept. of Atmospheric Chemistry, UC Davis
  • Data Science Intern, Aug. 2019-Nov. 2019.
    • New Sun Road, P.B.C.
  • Quantitative Analyst, Apr. 2019-Feb. 2017.
    • Intersect Power

Additional Internship experiences at SunPower Corporation and WattTime.org

EDUCATION

  • PhD Student in Statistics, 2021—Current
    • University of California, Santa Cruz
    • Passed Preliminary Exams, Sept 2022
  • B.A. Statistics, High Honors, 2013-2017
    • University of California, Berkeley

HONORS

  • Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Student Fellowships Program (GRFP), 2021
  • Phi Beta Kappa & High Distinction in General Scholarship, UC Berkeley, 2017.

Updated: Feb. 2023

  1. He did his postdoc with Murray Gell-Man. My grandpa has always been a big insipiration for me. ↩

  2. Thanks to the struggle of Chinese immigrants ↩