AANHPI highlight: Get to know Larry Yu, All-American swimmer and Johns Hopkins doctoral scholar

Larry Yu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is a 16-time Division III All-American swimmer and is engaged on a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics at Johns Hopkins. His collegiate journey has been formed by athletic excellence, tutorial ambition, discovering group inside swimming and offering illustration in STEM. 

Yu started his faculty profession at Pomona-Pitzer, the place he earned two College Sports Communicators Academic All-America awards and was named the 2023 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year. 

After finishing his undergraduate diploma in physics and pc science at Pomona, Yu determined to take a break from college to share his ardour for house with younger scientists. Yu labored at AstroCamp, a California summer time camp designed to immerse youth in hands-on STEM actions by means of out of doors exploration. 

A recipient of a 2025-26 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, Yu is ending the primary yr of his doctoral program at Johns Hopkins and was a member of the boys’s swimming and diving crew. In his closing yr of swimming, he helped lead the Blue Jays to their first convention title since 2006 along with his first-place efficiency within the 200-yard breaststroke and a third-place end as a part of the 400 freestyle relay crew.

Catching up with Yu

What accomplishments are you most pleased with in your student-athlete journey?

I believe I simply really feel quite a lot of gratitude as a result of it was a extremely particular expertise. College swimming has been a extremely wonderful alternative for me. It’s not simply the game itself however the teammates, ambiance and tradition we now have. Being capable of swim, be on this atmosphere, and together with my teachers is an expertise that not lots of people have. So I simply really feel quite a lot of gratitude that I used to be capable of have only a phenomenal expertise, teammates, coaches and every little thing. 

What experiences stand out to you probably the most out of your collegiate journey and swimming?

My coach at Pomona-Pitzer had a saying that your total aggressive season is sort of a carrot cake and your end-of-season competitions are the icing. The concept is that you’ve got executed all of the work, and the journey is a lot greater than the vacation spot. And in that case, having that icing is fairly candy. I’ve had my justifiable share of icing moments, like throughout my senior yr in undergrad, serving to my crew be capable of get a third-place end within the 800 free relay (on the NCAA Division III championships). We needed to transfer eight spots from the place we had been seeded, and we had been seeded within the morning heats. We needed to watch by means of a whole finals warmth to see the place we had positioned, and with the ability to see that we received third was like validation of not simply my season, however my total swimming profession. 

What does Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month imply to you?

I positively worth my heritage, my tradition, and I’ve quite a lot of gratitude towards my mother and father who immigrated from China and raised me in North America. That is fairly particular. Also, in Division III swimming there’s a fairly giant Asian American presence, as effectively. There’s one thing particular about having individuals such as you to share and compete with. For instance, quite a lot of us had a Lunar New Year celebration and all went out to dinner. Those moments are actually particular. 

Where does your ardour for house come from?

I’ve had a protracted curiosity in astronomy from a younger age. My dad would at all times take me as much as our roof to stargaze. And I’d say I’m a really analytical thinker, a curious thinker. I’ve at all times had a curiosity concerning the world round us. … During my undergraduate astronomy programs, one of many tasks we had was to detect an exoplanet by means of transit, and with the ability to get that outcome was surprisingly mind-blowing. Even although we had the anticipated outcome, this transit occurred light-years, tons of of light-years away, principally 400 or 500 years in the past. It made me suppose what else can we discover? What does that say about our personal photo voltaic system and our personal origins?

How did that result in AstroCamp?

I used to be actually focused on science communication, as effectively, so earlier than beginning grad college, I spent a yr working at a science camp and serving to children get focused on astronomy. We’d educate them and present them cool physics and astronomy ideas to get them enthusiastic about house, type of how I used to be once I was youthful. It was nice to feed their curiosity and have little children who’re simply tremendous enthusiastic and energetic. It was a extremely rewarding expertise. One of the highlights from the camp was the telescopes. We’re within the mountains so you may see the celebs very clearly due to the low mild air pollution, and on the proper time of night time, you may see Saturn. The children at all times received so enthusiastic about Saturn as a result of you may see the form of the rings round it, and it is actually stunning.