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Hello there!

Welcome to my home on the World Wide Web! My name is Andrew, and I'm a student at the University of Maryland studying a double major in computer science and astronomy. But I also like studying other things too like: math, physics, linguistics, history, and more. In computer science, I'm interested in programming languages, program optimization, algorithms, simulations, scientific computing, and the World Wide Web! In astronomy, I like applications of computer science to scientific computing as well as cosmology, relativity, and things like gravitational waves.

About me

Of course, as I said above, I am interested in computer science, astronomy, math, physics, linguistics, history, and more. But apart from academics, I also like soccer (Tottenham), baking (especially bread), urban planning, and conlangs (constructed languages). Here's a loaf of bread I made and some other images:



I also like science fiction and fantasy books/movies, including the Lord of the Rings, Dune, and Interstellar.

I've lived in a lot of places! Here are some of the places I've lived:

Korea (Jeju)	New Mexico	Nevada	Maryland	California

School.

I'm a computer science and astronomy student. What does that entail? This year, I'm studying programming languages, algorithms, and data science in computer science, and studying advanced calculus and waves physics for astronomy. On campus, I'm involved in Startup Shell (link), a student-run organization supporting people working on cool projects and businesses. I also work as an astronomy tutor, but nobody ever shows up to my tutoring hours.

Work.

Normally, I'm a university student in Maryland. But over the summer, I worked as an intern at Google (hyperlink to their webpage), a web search engine company in California (think better Yahoo!). At Google I worked on the internationalization (i18n) libraries team, working to make sure that our emerging and existing technologies are more accessible to people in other countries and speaking other languages. I implemented algorithms to the open-source ICU4X library to let dates be converted into other calendar systems.

Before I worked at Google, I was a proud employee of Jersey Mike's Subs and Sandwiches. I maintain that Jersey Mike's makes the best subs out of any chain I've had. My signature order (which I recommend): #13 Original Italian, Mike's Way with the oil and vinegar on immediately after the lettuce (otherwise it splashes off the tomatoes), pickles, and banana peppers.

Projects.

I work and have worked on many projects outside of coursework and my job. Here are some top picks:

• Colossus Web: An online cosmology calculator for astronomy researchers, students, and others; I am working on educational visualizations to teach cosmology concepts.
• Yangush: What would happen if Shakespeare and a bunch of his friends were stuck on an island with a bunch of modern Mandarin Chinese speakers? How would they communicate? Yangush is an experimental language to answer this important scenario by mixing the grammar and lexicon of 16th century English and 21st century Chinese.
• This website: I often make updates to this website or plans for new ones. I create designs for different styles of this personal website. You can see all the source code for this site and other branches with alternative styles here: (link)
• Other stuff: You can see (almost) everything else I work on here: (link)

S p o n s o r e d b y F r a n k P e p e' s P i z z e r i a

(this is not true but oh I wish it were)

Meta

Why did I make this site like this?

I made this website in 2023, so why did I design it to channel the aesthetics of the late 90s and early 2000s? Right now, sleek and uniform web interfaces dominate almost every means of interaction over the internet. Whether through Facebook, Discord, Instagram, Snapchat, or Reddit, the intentional, corporate, polished design of these websites often feels monotonous and lacking in personality.

There are very good reasons for this more boring style of design. They have made the internet more usable, accessible, and capable than ever before; a return to the old internet would be a mistake, and I would never design a consumer product or important application to resemble this site. But there's a charm to this sort of over-the-top, borderline ridiculous style that goes beyond nostalgia. This bygone era of the internet had an emphasis on creativity and individuality that is largely absent when I look around the internet today; an era where personal websites had personality, and unrefined self-expression was the norm.

Many opt for personal websites that serve as polished portfolios, meticulously curated for the scrutiny of recruiters and hiring managers. That's a perfectly fine decision; for many, their personal websites are instruments of their professional life, and so it's important for them to make something that pushes and showcases their ability, something they can be genuinely proud of.

But I don't think I fall in that category. I don't think my personal website matters, I don't think it's going to get me a job, and I don't think anyone will ever look at my personal website and make a decision that meaningfully affects my life in any way (If you are looking at my website and using it to make an important decision, please sign my guestbook!). So I choose to focus less on the user experience and more on my experience, as the creator. I created my website in this way to have fun, and to evoke the aesthetics of an early internet, because I think that in this style, despite its many flaws and shortcomings, there is something for us, as designers, programmers, and creators, to learn.

(Since I was asked, no, ChatGPT didn't write that, I did, and you just read it with two spinning pizzas right above)