Dr Sean Richards graduated on 22 September as the first Sāmoan to complete a PhD in Physics at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, the university said.
Richards' doctoral research used computer simulations to study how stars evolve, exchange material with companion stars and end their lives in supernova explosions. The university said the work helps astronomers model the formation of neutron stars and other extreme cosmic phenomena.
Richards has family links to Vailima, Moto'otua and Saleimoa in Sāmoa, and to England, and grew up in Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand.
According to the release, Richards first enrolled intending to work in video game development and chose computer science. Two general education papers in physics and astronomy changed that, and Richards switched to a physics major after a few lectures from Professor Richard Easther, Associate Professor Nick Rattenbury and Professor Jan Eldridge.
Richards said doubt set in during the second and third years, including after failing a paper, and that a grade point average short of the honours threshold led to a postgraduate diploma instead. That included a research project with Rattenbury on Taringa, the university's satellite ground station.
A near-fail in an advanced quantum mechanics paper was a turning point, the release said. Richards later took the harder version of the subject and finished equal first in course.
Richards then moved to a computational Master of Science project with Eldridge, and entered a PhD in Eldridge's research group with Rattenbury as co-supervisor.
Richards said the significance of the milestone only became clear near the point of submitting the thesis, and believes they are the first known Sāmoan and the second Pasifika person to complete a physics PhD at the university.
"I think it's very special to note that the first Sāmoan Physics PhD was in stellar astrophysics specifically," Richards said. "Our ancestors sailed the Pacific Ocean guided by starlight, and we're now understanding the stars better than ever."
University of Auckland figures show 5,955 PhDs were awarded between 2001 and July 2021, of which 42 were completed by Sāmoan students. Across the Faculty of Science, 56 Māori and Pacific doctoral graduates completed PhDs in that period, including two Sāmoan scholars.
Richards said working as a teaching assistant in the university's Tuākana programme five years ago was an important step in reconnecting with their Sāmoan heritage, and that they had seen few Pasifika students in the courses they took.
The thesis acknowledgements run to five pages, naming 678 people, 15 iwi and hapū, four First Nations peoples and five countries, the release said. Richards said the aim now is to make sure they are not the last.