Humberto Gilmer Statement of Intent It was an ordinary research group meeting one Thursday morning in June 2012 at the

Radiation Physics department at MD Anderson Cancer Center. As; but when one of the professors began to discuss some anomalous results in one of the patient trials a colleague was conducting, I was intrigued. He described a sequence of trials where the patients had experienced skin burning due to a new tumor irradiation procedure being tested; however, when the doctor accidentally left a piece of tape on the patient, the burning was suddenly prevented, a surprising find. At the time, I was on the verge of completing a project analyzing films containing experimental data from radiation trials conducted on water phantoms (essentially large water tanks meant to mimic the human body) with another member of the same research group and upon hearing of this potential project I seized the chance to learn more and meaningfully contribute. And so, I approached the professor, asking if there was anything I could do to assist on this project and learn more. As a sophomore, I knew little of particle physics, however, I was armed with knowledge of Matlab and a willingness to put in time and effort to understand what I could of this field in the time I had. It paid off; that spur of the moment request led to the project I worked on for the rest of the summer. As a result, I coded an algorithm to interpret results from a Monte Carlo statistical simulation, produce graphical outputs, and learned more the physics of charged particles. It was, at times, both maddening and immensely satisfying work. Maddening when the physics made no sense or the code refused to work and satisfying when the understanding finally clicked or when the code yielded the expected result and the sense of satisfaction of being able to present to my advisor the work I had completed. Not only had I honed my programming skills and learned more about particle physics, but my work could be used to better serve patients receiving radiation therapy, ensuring a better understanding of skin burns received in treatment. I learned much that summer, both about my ability to conduct research, its impact on my perspective as a physics student and about the variety of subfields and applications in the greater picture of physics. In one summer, I learned that although I may not wish pursue radiation physics as it applies to oncology, particle physics is definitely something that draws my interest. I also learned the value of taking the plunge, as it were, of the value of making attempts and trying solutions, although they may not yield the desired result. This summer, I wish to continue that journey. I currently desire to further explore quantum field theory, gravitational theory or other theory-related research to further diversify my views on the field and better understand what I may wish to study in my future academic career in graduate school and beyond. In the long term, I wish to proceed to graduate school after completing my undergraduate education and eventually hope to work as a professor. Participating in research and having access to the latest developments in the field only further fuels that drive, and a position at UC Boulder would be fantastic resource on that journey.