Vaibhav Joshi
Major & Minor
Majors: Astronomy and Physics
Minors: Math and Japanese
Hometown
New Delhi, India and Gurnee, Illinois
How’d you choose your major/minor?
I love learning. I search for any way to quench some of my endless amounts of questions, leading me right to the doorstep of astronomy and physics. With these two tools, I could take apart the world and examine its every parsec. My high school Astronomy Club and its advisor Mr. Nelson were also one of my biggest inspirations and encouragements to pursue science and astronomy, always feeding that thirst for knowledge I had.
What’s your favorite spot on campus?
MThere is a set of two hills right by the student union, where the smell of freshly fried and sauced orange chicken wafts through the air. While I don't rememember it's official name, my friends and I always refer to it as "The Grassy Knoll". It is the site of meetups and the end of hangouts; it's where I lie down often where the leaves of the trees give me oasis from the harsh Tucson sun; and it is my favorite spot to people-watch and just enjoy existing.
What has been the highlight of your college career thus far?
Definitely entering a Game Jam at the University. My friend, being a computer science and game development nerd, wanted to enter Winter Game Jam 2023, and it was an absolute blast. It was a "bottle episode": just my two great friends and I doing are best to not laugh ourselved to death while coming up with ridiculously unattainable but still relevant ideas for the Game Jam (which is just a competition to create a game on a certain theme in a few days and present it). While we didn't win overall, walking away with some great memories and laughs and $40 in Steam gift cards was a great consolation prize.