Hiro graduated in 2007 from Cornell University where he did his undergraduate studies in physics and mathematics. At Cornell, he conducted research in experimental particle physics with Professor Anders Ryd and experimental gravitational physics with Professor J. C. Seamus Davis.

In experimental particle physics, he analyzed data from the CLEO-c detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) accelerator to determine the branching fractions of Cabibbo-suppressed D->KK decays, which can lead to a characterization of the interplay between the strong and weak forces [1].

In experimental gravitational physics, he designed, constructed, and tested a cryogenic vibration isolation system to isolate the gravitational detector, which is planned to test Newton’s inverse square law of gravitation down to
sub-micron distances.

Hiro is now a graduate student at MIT and works in experimental atomic physics with Professor Wolfgang Ketterle. More specifically, he works with rubidium atoms in order to realize novel quantum magnetic states in optical lattices. Using atoms in optical lattices, one can engineer systems that closely resemble condensed matter systems such as crystals. One major advantage of creating a condensed matter system with optical lattices is the ability to tune the
interactions between the atoms with lasers. Combining this with the prospect to engineer novel lattice geometries such as triangular and kagome lattices, we hope to discover novel and exotic quantum phases that have not been observed in any condensed matter system.

Hiro is also interested in physics education. He was involved in the Society of Physics Students (SPS) throughout his stay at Cornell and helped organize and participated in many outreach activities for local children, from elementary to
high school students. He currently tutors undergraduate students at MIT through the MIT Office of Minority Education (OME) and volunteers to teach for events organized by the Educational Studies Program (ESP).

[1] G. Bonvicini et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 77, 091106(R) (2008).