Prize Recipient

Rolando Capote

Background:

I was born in Los Angeles, my father is Cuban and my mother is from El Salvador. When I turned 12 my parents divorced and since then, I have lived with my father, but I visit my mother every weekend. During the school year, I spend my weekends mostly studying and playing video games. Other than that I am a very dependable, hard worker. I am independent, but also willing to work in a group should the need arise. My interest in physics arose back in the eighth grade when I was introduced to the subject. I remember that year I was finally able to understand what all the adults and older children were talking about when they said words like 'proton', 'thermodynamics', 'electromagnetism', etc. I guess I decided to continue to pursue physics in college because I am interested in the idea of studying the intangible; for one cannot always touch what one explains in physics. After studying physics for a bachelor's degree, I intend to continue to study it for a masters or Ph.D. Afterwards, I plan to become a teacher, or either an independent scientist or one that works for the government. Along the way I plan to discover and solve a number of problems that I believe physics can solve.