Phuonganh Pham is a junior majoring in physics with minors in computational mathematics, science and engineering, and Chinese. Pham transferred to Michigan State University for its highly rated physics program and is an undergraduate researcher at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
When I was in eighth grade in Virginia, Dr. Paul Guèye, who is currently my adviser at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, came and talked about a two-week summer program called PING, or Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation. What caught my attention was that we could learn about astronomy — which has been an interest of mine since first grade — and that it was free. I did not think much of it days afterward, but I turned in the application anyway, which was past the deadline. I forgot about it until I got an email back saying I had been accepted. I participated in the program and did cool things like soldering, star observation, experiments and physics.
At the time, with my parents’ support, I had planned on becoming a medical doctor. I avoided physics like the plague throughout high school and planned to do so in college. I went to college with the set goal of going to medical school. However, as time went on, the momentum stopped. I realized that I didn’t want to become a doctor. I remembered how I felt during the PING program and wanted to pursue a career in astronomy. I did not know what to do or where to go. During that dilemma, I thought of Dr. Guèye. I contacted him and, after many conversations with him and with my parents, I packed my bags and headed to MSU. I knew that this meant that I had to be far away from family and be on my own in a new environment, basically restarting my college years. I was overwhelmed and questioned myself a lot.