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[Music: Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu]

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My name is Gabriel Apaza. I live in Northville, Michigan.

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I am currently attending Michigan State University getting a major in computer science and engineering,

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and I'm minoring in mathematics, and I'm a rising senior.

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My name is Philip Lu. I grew up in Hacienda Heights, California. And right now I'm actually going to UCLA

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for my Ph.D. in physics.

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APAZA: I've been playing classical piano probably since about the age of 6,

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and I've been taking lessons from a local piano teacher

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until I was about 16 years old.

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LU: I started learning piano when I was about 4,

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and I had a piano teacher until I was maybe 13 or so, but then

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I decided to just focus on my studies more, so I stopped taking lessons, but I've been playing ever since.

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APAZA: As a Goddard intern I'm working on a project called TAT-C,

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which stands for the Trade space Analysis Tool for

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Communications, and that's just an application that allows end-users to

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decide which space mission is best for what they want to accomplish. And my role

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personally on that project is, I'm a software architect.

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So I just use different design patterns to put together different pieces of software that makes the application

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easier to maintain and easier to use.

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The most exciting part about this project is actually seeing the project implemented into real life and

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Seeing real science being used with TAT-C.

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LU: My project is on microlensing. So microlensing is based on the principle that gravity bends light around it.

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So when you have a star or a planet moving in front of another star,

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it makes the star behind it brighter. And by just looking at how well it gets magnified we can infer

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characteristics of the planet or the star and it's really cool because we can

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maybe perhaps find Earth-like exoplanets, which are planets orbiting around other stars besides the Sun

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in our galaxy.

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APAZA: Whenever I'm working or coding, I always like to have music playing in the background,

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specifically classical music.

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I feel as if music that has set patterns in it that I can recognize really helps stimulate my subconscious,

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and it helps me find answers to problems that I wouldn't be able to solve otherwise.

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Each composer has their own different style and a pattern that's recognizable.

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Just like how in different branches of math they have

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different patterns that you can see. And I can always go to the piano to just play and kind of

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de-stress a little bit, and it definitely helps me solve problems.

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LU: Classical piano and mathematics both present

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similar types of problems. Both types of problems require a similar kind of problem-solving.

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And when you find that elegant solution it feels great whether or not it's mathematics or piano.

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It's also nice to have a second creative outlet, because when I'm stuck on a math problem,

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and I just, I just feel like I'm in a rut. I can just go and

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blow off some steam and play some piano and vice versa.

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I also like having music whenever I do some coding or some grading because it really just keeps me invigorated.