Daily Lobo: Are you from here?
Nathan Giannini: Yes. Well, I guess you could say I moved here about four or five years ago, but -
DL: Where did you move from?
NG: California.
DL: Do you like it here?
NG: It's a little bit dry, but yeah.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
DL: Have you found anything you like to do around Albuquerque?
NG: There's some science labs around here that allow you to walk in. That's always fun. Other than that, I just prefer to go to a library and read.
DL: What labs do you go to?
NG: Maybe a chemistry lab, or whatever is set up in the area. There are a lot north of here.
DL: What do you like to read?
NG: Science fiction, fantasy, comedy.
DL: Any favorite authors?
NG: Tamora Pierce. She's the author of The Circle Opens and the Circle of Magic series.
DL: What do you like about them?
NG: It's not comedy exactly, just the way it has a mysterious air around it. I guess you could say I like mystery.
DL: Why do you like physics? And optics and lasers, you said?
NG: Well, physics for some reason has always been incredibly easy for me. Even in high school, my sophomore year I took physics and still passed with an A. I probably was first interested in it because my dad's an optical physicist, and he works with lasers as well, and he owns his own company. And my entire family on my dad's side has been scientists back to about 150 years. On my mom's side it's been about 20 or 30 years.
DL: What does your dad do in his business?
NG: He tries to create lasers that will shoot down missiles literally right when they're orbiting, about to come down, before they even impact - that way, there's no general damage to the area; all the parts will just burn up in the atmosphere.
DL: What does your mom do?
NG: She's a computer technician. She can design software and design a computer, the hardware part of it, as well.
DL: Do you want to do something with science like your parents have?
NG: No, just working with lasers, because I've always found that waves that have to do with optics are incredibly easy, and it's fun how they only go with three different waves, and how they reflect. I always find that interesting. I wanted to always learn something new about why things work, and physics is literally learning about how everything in nature works. That's what intrigues me most about it.
