Nutshell Bio

I'm from Korea, where I lived until my first year in high school. I used to be a bad student and an unpopular kid who just drew. But I discovered that I had an ability to completely immerse myself in worlds created in books, movies, and games. Especially, the complete virtual reality in games gave me a goal: that I would somehow be "good enough" someday to make the best of all.

I decided to study abroad. I joined a cheap exchange student program which turned out to be a disaster. I was sent to Emmett, Idaho where I mostly did house chores and yardwork for my host family. I managed to transfer to Ben Lippen School in South Carolina. I wanted to challenge myself academically, so I moved to Episcopal High School in Virginia. Then I went to the University of Rochester on (partial) scholarship, where I graduated in three years with majors in mathematics and computer science and a minor in history. Then I came to Columbia University to pursue a PhD degree in computer science.