Page 5 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - April 14, 2021

Pong: From Punahou To Perseverance
APRIL 14, 2021
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FROM PAGE 4
model rockets and building electronics like a radio and robot.”
edge to future missions,” he shares.
Despite Pong possessing a sharp mind at an early age (his mother notes that her “very observant” son would soak up “knowledge and skills just by watching oth- ers”), he also has humility.
The engineer from Oʻahu has worked on the project for more than four years and says it has been a thoroughly amazing experience.
“When he was in middle school, I recall seeing his name in the Punahou bulle- tin. He had placed third in a national math competition. I asked him about it and he said it wasn’t a big deal and I responded, ‘Of course it’s a big deal! I’m so proud of you,’” Akamine explains.
“It’s very cool to be work- ing alongside senior engineers, some of whom appear in doc- umentaries that I watched when I was just dreaming about working at a place like JPL. Everyone comes from such diverse backgrounds and shares a passion for space,” he sums up.
Pong and other members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team react in mission control after receiving confirmation of the spacecraft’s landing. PHOTO COURTESY BILL INGALLS/NASA
Although many questions remain to be answered about the nature of the enigmatic planet Mars, one thing is cer- tain. Pong has definitely had a “blast” in taking part in its exploration.
Pong also possesses an artistic side. In high school, he created beautiful works of art, such as a nice painting of Humphrey Bogart, pottery, glasswork and more, Aka- mine recalls.
When he’s not working, Pong enjoys spending time with his wife, Julia, and their two children, 5-year- old Oakley and 3-year-old August.
lesson or two to my fellow classmates. In AP Physics C, we were always split up into small groups and we’ d have to work through problems to- gether as a team. This taught me that being able to explain a concept to someone else re- quires a much more deep un- derstanding of the material.
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However, she concludes that his love of rockets and science ultimately prevailed. He had, after all, expressed a desire to become a physicist even before turning 8.
“We love traveling interna- tionally, but due to the pan- demic, we’ ve recently been camping in places around California. My wife and I met in college. She went to Scripps College, which is right next to Harvey Mudd College. After we graduated, we both moved to Boston for graduate school. She went to Boston University while I went to MIT,” Pong explains.
“This is something that I keep in mind to this day and I believe it’s why some of the most knowledgeable people that I work with are so will- ing to sit down and answer questions from junior engi- neers,” he concludes.
“Besides being a physicist, he also wanted to be an as- tronaut and explore space,” she says.
“For a couple years, we lived together with my broth- er and his wife. We now live in South Pasadena, where my wife runs an in-home daycare with six kids, including our two,” he adds.
He also recalls one fun thing that just happened to him a few weeks ago when he par- ticipated in a Zoom chat ques- tion-and-answer session about Perseverance, organized by Art and Rene Kimura, who started Future Flight Hawai‘i. Three of the participants were his fa- vorite teachers from Punahou (Christine David, Susan Field and Michael Gearen), who he hadn’t seen since he graduated almost 17 years ago.
And space is certainly on Pong’s mind a lot these days. He explains that his role on the Perseverance Mars proj- ect is largely over since he’s not directly involved with the operation of “Percy” — what the rover’s name has been shortened to — as it explores Mars.
Pong shares that his expe- rience as a student at Puna- hou School certainly set him up for success in his career.
“I am just analyzing telem- etry that was recorded during cruise and just before entry, descent and landing so that we can learn from what hap- pened and apply that knowl-
“One thing that started at Punahou, for me, was learn- ing through teaching,” he emphasizes. “In my AP Cal- culus BC class, I was given the opportunity to teach a
“It was awesome to recon- nect with them (briefly) after all of these years!” Pong de- clares excitedly.