Born to Research: Meet Caltech's Most Springsteen-Loving Grad Student

Jean Somalwar with her Springsteen memorabilia. Photo: Lance Hayashida/Caltech

Jean Somalwar, a graduate student in astronomy at Caltech, studies the stars in our galaxy and beyond. But she points to a different kind of star as one of her main inspirations: Bruce Springsteen. In fact, she says, the musician is the reason she got into college. A New Jersey native like the Boss, she has attended five Springsteen concerts (including three of his Broadway performances in New York) and has been a fan since she was 14. Somalwar even wrote her college application essay to Princeton University about meeting Springsteen at a 2016 book signing for his autobiography Born to Run.

“When I heard the emotional howls at the beginning of ‘Something in the Night,’ I had to stop working and just listen,” the essay reads. “Every line reflected my exact feelings, and for five minutes and fourteen seconds, the world disappeared.”

Somalwar began to collect Springsteen-related memorabilia when she was 16. The items, which include newspapers, magazines, concert tickets, and a poster, now fill up most of a wall in her home. “I’m under the impression that such displays are quite common among Springsteen fans,” she says.