Winner of a President’s Medal in 2012, Brad Bachu, 24, graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on June 9 with a double Major in Physics and Mathematics and a Minor in Philosophy. Bachu was home in Trinidad for a short respite and departed on Tuesday to pursue his PhD in Physics.
A resident of Chaguanas, Bachu attended Presentation College, Chaguanas. His one brother, Beau, did Mechanical Engineering at UWI, St Augustine.
Said Bachu: “I had a well rounded childhood. At Presentation I did fail a few subjects a few times and never placed first in test. From Form 1-5, I played a lot of badminton and represented the country at the Pan Am Games in 2010, just after Form 5. I also did a lot running and did the UWI Spec half marathon twice, and also the Clico International Marathon.”
Bachu said as a child and college student he didn’t do many extra curricular activities. He said: “I was never good at things like chess. I thought chess was about natural talent but then learnt that the game was based on a lot strategy. The thing is, I hate to memorise things, so some subjects which required a lot of memorisation I wasn’t good at, from Form 1-5.
“But in Form Six, when I did Physics and Mathematics, and focussed on the subjects I really liked, which required logical thinking and not really memorisation, I found that I excelled more.”
Never a young man to be easily influenced, Bachu has had a relatively smooth transition in Massachusetts. He said: “My migration to the States was somewhat easy for me. Being the type of person who focuses on what I am about, I wasn’t easily influenced by the popular US culture. I stayed very focused. I still have a lot of friends there but I didn’t change who I am.”
Laughingly saying that he is no gourmet chef, Bachu said that he can help himself around the kitchen.
“At home, curry chicken was the fastest thing for me to cook,” he said.
“I only learned how to make roti and curry chicken just last year. I experimented on my friends and they liked it a lot. As far as US food is concerned, I didn’t have any favourites. “At the bottom of our dorm there were dining halls where breakfast, lunch and dinner were served so I would normally just eat those things. Back home I am being spoilt by my mom who every day asks: ‘What do you want to eat today, Brad?’”
Bachu’s father works at Xtra Foods and his mother is a stay-at-home-mom.
“She has been there for Beau and myself throughout our growing up,” said Bachu.
Bachu returned home on June 11 for a short time, as he’s off to Germany to do research at the German Electron Synchrotron.
He said: “It’s for two months. Then I return home for about two weeks, before going off to Princeton to do my PhD.”
Asked if there was any secret formula to excelling scholastically, Bachu said: “I think what I have done that most of people haven’t, is to find something that you really like and make yourself really good at it. I am not a nerd or a bookworm but I spend a lot of time reading my text books.
“For instance, I find reading my Physics book more rewarding than reading a novel. Our universe provides a better fantasy than a reading a novel.
“I watch some movies and television, mostly comedies. I do other things as well, like football and some squash. I am pretty good at most sports but don’t think I’ll take up any competitively. I just do sports now for recreation.”
About advice to the nation’s youth, Bachu said: “I think that people place too much emphasis on deciding one’s success by whether you become a doctor, lawyer or engineer.
“I think young people should really focus on what they want to do from a young age and try to make the best of that. I think that adds a lot of diversity to the work force we have in T&T. Young people should also not be afraid to dream big.”
EDUCATION / RESEARCH
Here are some excerpts from Brad Bachu’s resume:
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT) 2017. Bachelor of Science in Physics & Mathematics, Minor: Philosophy. Thesis: A Study of Short Distance Top Mass at NNLL + NNLO
PRESENTATION COLLEGE CHAGUANAS 2012. CARIBBEAN ADVANCED PROFICIENCY EXAMINATIONS (CAPE): Physics 1 & 2, Pure Mathematics 1 & 2, Applied Mathematics 1 & 2, Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering Drawing 1 & 2, Caribbean Studies, Communication Studies.
CERN
(EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH) / MIT
n DARK MATTER SEARCH,
July 2015 – August 2015
Worked closely with the Dark Matter Search (DMS) group at CERN in the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration.
Measured the efficiency of electron identification in the CMS detector by employing many statistical tools.
Worked on measurement of the cross section of the Z boson decay to a bottom quark pair. This measurement will be used to improve future dark matter searches.
Presented results at CERN to the DMS group highlighting preliminary measurements and outlining future tasks.
MIT LABORATORY FOR
NUCLEAR SCIENCES
n TOP QUARK SEARCH IN HEAVY ION COLLISIONS AT THE LHC, April – May 2016
Conducted the first search for top quarks in Pb-Pb (lead-lead) collisions at 5.02TeV under supervision of Professor Gunther Roland as a probe for quark gluon plasma.