Michael was born in the lush, equatorial emerald of the world, known as Indonesia, before moving to Hong Kong to attend the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). There, he chased his passion for physics and graduated with first-class honors. His time at HKUST deepened his love for the subject as he engaged in computational physics research with Professor Xi Dai and Professor Ady Stern from the Weizmann Institute of Science. At UCSB, Michael is pursuing his Ph.D. in the Materials Department. Outside of academics, he loves exploring nature, diving into both fiction and non-fiction books, and occasionally playing football (soccer) or hitting the gym.