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A short bio

I have a very international background, and am trilingual (English, French, Italian). I was born in Italy and grew up in Switzerland, South Korea, and currently live in France.
This experience made me eager to cross boundaries and push limits, both spacially and intellectually. I am passionate and creative as italians can be, I've learnt to be hard-working from Koreans, and France taught me to be rational and independent.

My passion for science

I think my love for Science started at the age of 3, while I was visiting the "Enrico Toti" submarine at the National Science and Technology museusm in Milan. I was yearning to answer the myriad of questions that came to my mind. And I am very fortunate to have a family that always encouraged my curiosity.
At 10, I started reading about physics and programming. I developed my first game at 12 (it was about rockets, and I posted a short demo of it below).
At 14, I discovered two of my greatest heroes: Richard Feynman (I still love opening his "Lectures" once in a while), and Trinh Xuan Thuan (who light up my passion for astrophysics).
I also got hooked up on aerospace engineering -my grandfather was an officer and worked for NATO on ballistic missiles-, and I am training to get my Private Pilot License.

Today, my key scientific interests are quantum mechanics and computing, computer science, astrophysics, and aerospace engineering. In fact, these are much more than mere interests; they are real passions: as an example, I've been selected among the students of my university to take part to the International Physicists' Tournament in 2022.

Experience and interests

I've always been powered by my passions and ideals, and spare no efforts in pursuing them.

  • Volunteering and civil service

    To serve others is part of my core values. I worked six months full time as a civil servant at "ATD Fourth World" in an underprivileged neighborhood near Paris in 2021. I also was very fortunate to be an activity leader at a holiday camp in 2017 with intellectually disabled young people, living with the guests and helping them through their daily activities, from playing games to eating and showering.

  • Sports

    I'm clearly not the best at sports. However, I've always loved tennis, and I play about 6 hours a week. In addition, I had the opportunity to learn Taekwondoo in Korea during five years, and albeit having forgot almost everything, it has been a precious experience.

  • Internships

    At 15, I interned at Observatoire de Paris, once directed by the Cassini family and later by Arago. I met with researchers and aerospace engineers working on satellites; I took pictures of the surface of the Sun. This exciting experience confirmed my love for space. Separately, I interned at a French startup which is the European pioneer of buyback, refurbishment and sales of second hand smartphones. I enjoyed the startup environment, and was thrilled to learn and contribute to sustainable technology development.

  • Economics and Business

    I'm fond of economics, and I've read several books; I've learnt the basics from the excellent Principles of Economics by Mankiw. I also read many economic newspapers on a daily basis. On top of that, I'm part of a joint Polytechnique-HEC Paris consultancy junior entreprise, partenered with McKinsey. We do several missions a year, often for large and well-established companies.

  • Debating and public sepaking

    Debating is one of my greatest passions, and I took part to countless debating contests. I reached semi-finals in a French national contest with several hundreds participants organized by the Fédération Francophone de Débat, and won an "Award of Excellence" at Harvard Model Congress Europe in 2018. I also took acting classes for several yars while in middle and high school. This year, I'm taking part to a MUN congress with my university.

  • History and ancient languages

    I'm really passionate about history and especially antiquity (it probably stems from my Italian heritage). I studied both Latin and Ancient Greek in midddle and high school, and was part of the three students selected by my high school to participate to the "Concours Général", a prestigious french national contest.

Ecole Polytechnique is the n°1 Science and Engineering university in France, alma mater of Becquerel, Lagrange, Poisson, Poincaré, Carnot, Navier, Mandelbrot and Jean Tirole among others.

Education

  • 2004-2009: Lycée Français de Seoul, primary school
  • 2011-2018: Saint Louis de Gonzague, middle and high school: French high school diploma (Baccalauréat) in Mathematics and Science awarded with highest honors

  • In France, STEM university is made of two parts: a two-year "preparatory school" heavily focusing on mathematics and physics, and a four-year university "grande école". A two-months-long national competition exam ranks all the students after preparatory school in order for the "grandes écoles" to select the best students.
  • 2018-2019: Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève: prep school (BS)
  • 2019-2020: Lycée privé Stanislas: prep school (BS)
  • 2020-2024: Ecole Polytechnique (BS, MS): I am studying physics, pure and applied mathematics, computer science and mechanics.

Languages

  • Italian: Mother tongue
  • French: Mother tongue
  • English: proficiency. Cambridge First Certificate C1 level (190/190) in 2016
  • Spanish: upper intermediate/advanced B2/C1 level (B2 Cervantes test in 2016)
  • Korean: Elementary (I took Korean classes three hours a week for two years in Paris to keep ties with this wonderful country)