How the size, shape, and alignment of grains in zirconium carbide coatings govern their survival in hot hydrogen at 1500–2500 K, the failure mode behind coating delamination in hypersonic scramjets and nuclear thermal propulsion. Advised by Prof. Daniel R. Mumm, UC Irvine Materials Research Institute. $10,000 seed grant, NASA L’SPACE Program (Spring 2026).
Co-Investigator· October 2026–
Leads the research and simulation side of the project: molecular-dynamics modeling in LAMMPS of grain morphology, thermal-expansion mismatch, and carbon vacancies in the ZrC lattice.
Principal Investigator· January–October 2026
Led the project from its founding: assembled the team across UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine, and wrote the proposal that won the NASA L’SPACE seed grant in a national competition.
Astrophysics · Data Science · October 2025–June 2026 · completed
Python and machine-learning pipeline to extract, decompose, and analyze stellar light curves from public survey data and flag anomalous emission. Co-authored a research submission reporting a previously unreported variable star with frequent high-energy flares. An early version, comparing data from two satellites, was my Physics 23 project at Santa Monica College.
Student Instructor, Santa Monica College Science Tutoring Center · Jan 2026 – present
Selected by the STEM department to teach physics and chemistry: 10+ one-on-one and group sessions a week.
Mentor and Lead Builder, VEX Robotics, teams 11444X and 334R · Jun 2023 – present
Mentored teams to the VEX Worlds Division Semifinals and the California Region 4 State Tournament, guiding mechanical design, sensor calibration, and autonomous control; about a 25% gain in win rate (11444X). Earlier, as a competitor: Haunted Signature Event champion (11444X) and Region 4 Create Award (334R).
Vice President of California, Back to School Together · Jul 2025 – present
Raised over $1,200 for STEM education for underserved students in Mexico and Guatemala and coordinated volunteer outreach.
Taekwondo Instructor, Elite Taekwondo Center, Koreatown · two years, until Jun 2024
Taught fundamentals, poomsae, and sparring to youth classes; Kukkiwon-certified third-degree black belt.
From a recommendation
“Payton is a motivated, independent, bright student who can work well both independently and with others in group settings.”
“For his class project, Payton explained how he wrote a Python program to compare data on solar activity from two different satellites from publicly available sources.”
“He is intelligent, curious, motivated, and pursues his interests with confidence.”
“He will be dedicated, find interesting and cool things to research while excelling in his studies.”
Forouzan Faridian, Associate Professor of Physics, Santa Monica College Physics 23 (fluids, waves, thermodynamics, and optics), Fall 2025