I am a fourth year PhD graduate student at University of California at Davis and have been working with the High Pressure Physics group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for two years. I am investigating various phase transitions in a series of low-Z materials at extreme pressures experimentally using x-ray diffraction, Raman and x-ray Raman techniques coupled with laser and resistive heating. I am also modeling them theoretically using first-principles density functional theory calculations under the guidance of Warren Pickett and Richard Scalettar at U. C. Davis. I graduated with a degree in engineering-physics from University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA in 2002. In my free time I enjoy camping, reading novels, and tutoring little kids.