Hello, I am Sunny! I am currently a 6th year PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, advised by Prof. Lars Bildsten. My research intersects 1D stellar evolution and 3D hydrodynamical models to understand how white dwarfs in binary systems interact with their companion stars, and the stellar objects they form.
In my free time, I enjoy cycling, taking a walk on beaches, and photography. I recently earned my scuba diving certification and started learning German.
I was born in Hong Kong, and grew up there until the end of high school. My mother language is Cantonese, but I also speak fluent Mandarin. There I attended Queen’s College for secondary school (grades 7 - 12), which is Hong Kong’s first public secondary school (since 1862). I became interested in astronomy when I joined the Astronomers’ Club there. It was at first observationally driven. I simply enjoyed looking at deep sky objects and nebulae. Then I grew interested in stellar evolution, especially stellar explosions and compact objects.
The year 2014 (my 11th grade) was amazing for me. The type Ia supernova SN2014J happened in the Cigar Galaxy, which was the nearest type Ia supernova for decades. I was fortunate enough to observe it with my friends through an 8-inch telescope, both through an eyepiece and through a DSLR camera. It was perhaps fateful that I would eventually study how type Ia supernovae occur.
In 2015, I went to study undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Cruz. There I had the privilege to work with Prof. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz and Dr Josiah Schwab. In 2019, I started graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and have been there till now.