About Me

Hi, my name is Yiwei Li. I was born in Beijing, China, and lived there for my first three years of life, mostly with my maternal grandparents. In 1995, I moved to Worcester, MA, to join my parents in America. After a looong series of moves, our family ended up in Andover, MA, probably for good. I am currently a rising senior at Phillips Academy.

My mother is a physics major who ended up getting her Master's degree in computer science and my dad recieved a PhD in biology, so growing up, math and science have always been large parts of my life. During my elementary and middle school years, I took extra math classes on Saturdays, and my reading material included texts such as the entertaining but informative Alice in Quantumland, Scientific American, and A Short History of Nearly Everything, in addition to the usual Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. In high school, I have taken many different math and science classes, including BC Calculus, Physics C, AP Chem, and Comp Sci AB. (Ironically enough, despite my significant math/science tilt, my favorite class so far has been AP Euro History, taught by the esteemed and sometimes quirky Dr. Q. Yes, we call him Dr. Q.) Next year, I hope to take three more physics electives and AP Bio, among other classes.

Outside of classes, I enjoy participating in many various activities. I have been swimming competitively for 9 years now, and I also began piano lessons at the age of 7 as well. Unfortunately, I haven't practiced the piano too much since the beginning of tenth grade, so I can't really say that I still play it :( In school, I play the French horn for the concert band, swim, play water polo, tutor for math, chemistry, and physics, and join in on the occasional (harmless!) hijinks occuring around campus.

I first heard about the Simons Program from my cousin, who did research in material science here at Stony Brook during her sophomore and junior summers. I am very excited, especially since this will be my first time doing real research, to be working under Dr. Noe at the Laser Teaching Center. (Funnily enough, during my two years of physics in high school, I've never really touched optics. Both my teachers seemed to enjoy skipping the topic.) As we say in Boston, here's to a wicked awesome summer!