Preston Jackson

I chose this major because when I was a kid I went on a trip with my dad and sister to visit a relative in Alabama. When we got to his house it had gotten dark outside, but when I stepped out of the car and looked up—that was the first time I had ever seen a sky filled with stars. Ever since then, I have wanted to see and understand more that is beyond our planet. Find and study things that give all of us a sense of how big the universe actually is.

I am extremely passionate about supermassive black holes, but I am starting to learn more and get very interested in nuclear physics and optics. I plan on achieving a Ph.D. in physics before I turn 30, and then working toward becoming a research scientist for NASA, or if I go in the optics direction, helping in the construction of new satellites that’ll help in the scientific research in further away celestial bodies.

Currently I have chartered a chapter of the National Society of Black Physicists at my home institution of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I would like to help spread the awesomeness physics and astronomy actually is in surrounding schools to kids who may not know all the things we do or have been exposed to them like we have.