After a long wait of more than 3 months, my first research paper, From Theory to Observational Results: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Detected at High Redshift Ranges, finally got published by Journal of Student Research.
This research paper grew out of my science research project at the Academy of Loudoun, which I began in September 2024. Astronomy and space have fascinated me since childhood, so I was eager to dive right into the work. That said, the early stages weren’t smooth—I struggled to decide which specific direction my project should take.
A turning point came when I spoke with a graduate student at USC, who shared a few possible ideas. Around the same time, I read several research papers by professors at Harvard and Ohio State, which helped me narrow my focus to baryon acoustic oscillations. After further investigation of all possible resources, I decided to use the DESI Early Data Release (EDR) dataset for my study.
To work with the dataset, I used ADQL to pull data from the NOIRLab DataLab database, then started coding in Python to process and analyze the results. However, I quickly ran into performance issues—Python was too slow for the scale of computation I needed. That challenge became an opportunity: I taught myself Java to design more efficient algorithms and data structures, which ultimately sped up the processing by an order of magnitude.
Over the next several months, I worked intensively on data extraction, algorithm design, and fine-tuning the data model. Step by step, the project came together, and by November 2024, I was able to finalize my research. To my excitement, my paper was accepted for publication in the Journal of Student Research.
Looking back, this journey was more than just completing a project—it was about persistence, problem-solving, and following a lifelong passion.
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