A military kid raised in Korea, Guam, and Germany, I didn't live in the U.S. until I was 16 — when I started at UC Berkeley. I graduated early with a bachelor's in physics within the theoretical physics track and commissioned at 19, the youngest commissioned officer since the Air Force's founding, before earning my M.S. (2022) and Ph.D. (2025) in Nuclear Engineering, as the youngest graduate in my program.

My doctoral research built deep learning architectures fusing magnetic and seismic sensor data and pioneered the first physics-informed transductive transfer learning application to nuclear fuel cycle facilities. I've presented at national conferences, hold a Best Paper award from the American Nuclear Society, and bring hands-on national-lab research in quantum sensing (Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore) to the quantum and instrumentation side of the curriculum.

When students I'd helped with AFOQT prep, physics, and AI/ML asked me to build a community where they could study together and ask questions freely, the answer was obvious. FissionLab exists because you asked for it — and because rigorous STEM education should be accessible to people who are serious about it.

Dr. Preston holds a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and has guided students to significant improvements across AFOQT subtests, physics courses, and AI/ML foundations. His approach is built on deep subject mastery, not shortcuts.