I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." -- Isaac Newton

 

Since I have neither an eloquence of my own nor lived a life worth the grandeur of self-introductions, I humbly appropriate the beautiful prologue to the autobiography of my hero, Prof. Walter Lewin:

 

I am Jerome Pitogo de Leon, born on 14th of May 1992 in a small town of Sariaya, Quezon. I am the 2nd eldest among the 5 beautiful children of my loving parents, Horacio and Mena. I entered high school at St. Joseph's Academy where I blossomed into a team captain of the school's basketball team, member of the Student Government Organization, battalion commander in CAT, and a rational thinker. I became seriously interested in Science late in high school but I managed to graduate in the top 10. Then, I entered to UPLB with a degree in BS Applied Physics--the field I really love.

 

Early in college, I dreamt of having a noble profession: a professor of Astro/Physics. At a relatively young age, I worked as teacher in a review center and as an intern in the Condensed Matter Physics Lab at UP Diliman (UPD). I also became a resource speaker in different schools in Los Banos, Cavite, Bicol, and Quezon Province just to share my passion in Astronomy and to show to students the grandeur of Space. I also participated in international essay writing contest as well as appeared in TV interview. I love attending conferences locally (like TEDx Diliman) and abroad (like Winter/ Summer Schools in different countries). Moreover, I attended conferences in national Physics Congress and also presented my rst paper co-written with my adviser in the 1st Southeast Asian Young Astronomers Collaboration (SEAYAC) meeting in Pawalan. Afterwards, I attended the SOKENDAI Asian Winter School at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) Mitaka Campus in Osaka, Tokyo. Months after graduation, I was able to attend the 2nd SEAYAC meeting then in Bandung, Indonesia wherein I met wonderful people and new friends. In January 2014, I was accepted to the Winter School in Chiang Mai, Thailand to be trained in Fundamental Radio Astronomy sponsored by National Astronomy and Research Insititute of Thailand (NARIT)-Korean Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI). In April 2014, I attended a Spring School in Particle Physics related to Cosmology at Chang Gung University in Taoyuan, Taiwan. For two months (July-Aug 2014), I was an intern in the Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) at the National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei where I worked to reduce and analyze the morphology of the disk around a young star directly imaged by one of the world's largest and most advanced optical telescope (Subaru) in Hawaii. Currently, I am continuing my research and preparing a paper for publication at a prestigious journal, The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), for my first ever publication. By April 2015, I will leave for Japan to commence my 5-year Ph.D. studies at the Graduate Univerity for Advanced Studies [Sokendai] in Tokyo, Japan under Prof. Tomonori Usuda. He is currently the director general of Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Japan. I am excited!

 

Aside from Astronomy, I am also fascinated by a plethora of topics in science, ranging from rocket science to artificial intelligence. I wonder what lies beyond the horizon of the observable universe, how organic materials give rise to mind and consciousness, if the technological singularity will ever arrive, how space and time appear beyond the third dimension, and if we will ever find concrete evidence of advanced extraterrestial life within our lifetimes. (wait this is still about astronomy!)

 

A little of this, but not much, I have achieved all these as a result of the pursuit of knowledge to understand the universe. These experiences have crystallized my desire to pursue Astrophysics in Japan since opportunities there is much better than what the Philippines can offer me today. But after finishing my Ph.D. abroad, I promise that I will come back not only to teach but also to inspire the younger generations to dream big and reach for the stars!