Biography - Greg Caravelli

I am currently a rising junior (class of 2007) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Academically, I have been interested in science and mathematics since the beginning of my schooling with a focus on physics in the last four years. While I have not fully determined which area of physics interests me most and what I plan on doing with it, my various experiences with it through classes, research, and reading have confirmed it to be my life's pursuit.

Throughout my life I have developed a wide variety of interests from different people and places. The more substantial ones include being outdoors (hiking, backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, white water rafting, caving, climbing, and bicycling), photography, computers, chess, piano, and vegetarianism.

My Younger Years (1985-1999)

I was born and raised in Manhattan, NY with my three brothers. I attended St. Bernard's School for grades one through eight. There was not a lot of focus on science and math, but nevertheless, they remained my favorite subjects. During my later years I enjoyed making bridges with toothpicks, gravity and CO₂ cars, and even paper airplanes for in-class science projects.

During the first grade, I was introduced to music with Suzuki violin, but quickly switched over to piano, which I pursued for the next ten years. During the next few years, I decided to become a vegetarian, influenced by my uncle, who is now the executive director of Healthy Planet, and by the monthly potluck dinners he organized as chairman of Earthsave Long Island. During my last four years at St. Bernard's I was active in the Environment Club and the JV and varsity soccer teams.

High School (1999-2003)

I attended Regis High School, a full scholarship Catholic high school in New York City. Here I was able to better pursue science and math while still taking the humanities, including three years of latin. When I took physics in my junior year, I was intruiged by it and was inspired by my teacher, Frank Barona, to continue on with it.

During all of high school I was actively involved in Regis's Chess Team, eventually becoming president. Our team participated in National and State tournaments as well as within the New York City Catholic High School Chess League (NYCCHSCL); at these events, I was ranked by the United States Chess Federation (USCF). I also learned a lot about computers from my older brother and cousin, eventually building several computers for my family. I now find myself fixing people's computers wherever I go.

During the last trimester of my senior year, I interned at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in their Medical Physics Department. I worked with Assen Kirov, PhD on reducing the energy dependence artifact in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). The abstract for this paper was submitted to the American Association of Physicists in Medecine (AAPM) and can be viewed here. During the summer months, I worked on a different project regarding the identification and correction of artifacts produced by the Vidar VXR-16 Film Digitizer, which was frequently used in our department for scanning X-ray films.

College (2003-Present)

At Johns Hopkins University, I declared physics as my major with Barry J. Blumenfeld, PhD as my advisor, and will most likely minor in mathematics. Along with the standard physics and math curriculum, I have taken C++, Astronomy, Natural Catastrophes, as well as an assortment of humanities courses.

For the last two years I have been involved with several extracurricular activities, and am now the director of the Johns Hopkins Outdoors Club (JHOC), vice president of the Catholic Community at Hopkins, and on the Student Activities Commission (SAC) board (we give out university funding to student groups).

Last summer my older brother and I started Flash Action Photography, a sports photography business based on Long Island, utilizing digital cameras and the web for the sale of our photos. During this time I learned a great deal about digital photography from my older brother, who was the photo editor for the Arizona Daily Wildcat at the University of Arizona at the time.