Antonio was born in Los Angeles, CA. From an early age, he showed an affinity for mathematics, teaching himself calculus at the age of 13. After reading Stephen Hawking’s “The Universe in a Nutshell” and “A Brief History of Time”, he became fascinated by physics. In 2008, he entered Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where earned his BS in applied physics and decided to focus on condensed matter, a choice that strongly influenced his decision to enter Columbia’s physics PhD program in 2012. Throughout his education, Antonio has also greatly enjoyed languages. In middle and high school, he studied Spanish Literature and Latin during the year and Arabic during the summers at UCLA. In college, he learned Hebrew his first year and traveled abroad to study physics at the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel (in Hebrew) during his second year (in fact, he learned quantum mechanics, fluid physics and optics for the first time in Hebrew).
Since middle school, Antonio has loved tutoring and teaching students. He has taught and tutored dozens of students in subjects ranging from multiplication and 8th grade English to advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics, partial differential equations, second-year economics, and Arabic. Additionally, Antonio has taught two semesters of chess and mathematics to inner city middle school students through citizen schools. At Columbia, he has also acted as a TA for the general physics lab class and the advanced undergraduate/graduate Solid State course in the physics department. In the fall, he will begin teaching a statistical mechanics and thermodynamics course to talented high school students through Columbia’s Science Honors Program.
In his free time, Antonio enjoys playing the piano (which he has done since he was two years old), Tang Soo Do sparing, biking, and cooking. He likes to start each day by himself, making cappuccinos with his stovetop espresso maker and milk foamer.
