Ashton Jung

01 About

I was born in Iowa, spent part of my childhood in New Zealand and Korea, and now call Fullerton, California home. Moving between places that early probably had more to do with why I like research than anything else — you notice pretty fast that the same question can look completely different depending on where you're standing, and I've been chasing that feeling ever since, whether it's comparing how AI and humans write song lyrics or how far apart two water polo teams are on a map.

Outside of that, I'm into statistics, artificial intelligence, and the ways data can explain human behavior. My work includes published and ongoing research in AI-generated language, sports analytics, and marketing — including a first-author article in the Journal of Emerging Investigators and a second sports-analytics manuscript currently under review at European Sport Management Quarterly.

I also founded Ashberry Entertainment, where I develop and publish educational and casual mobile applications for iOS and Android. Through research, software development, and InnoYouth, I enjoy turning ideas into projects that can be tested, shared, and used in the real world.

Probably a side effect of growing up between New Zealand and coastal California, but I never really stopped loving the water. I play center — also called hole set — for Troy High School's water polo team: back to the goal at the two-meter line, fighting for position the entire game, and usually the player the offense is built around. It's one of the most physical spots in the pool, and I love it. When I'm not in the water for that, I'm usually in it anyway — sailing or just swimming.

An evening home game at Troy Aquatics — the pool I train and play in. Filmed from the stands, so it's the team you're watching rather than any one player.

02 Research & Publications

Six research projects spanning generative AI, environmental modeling, sports analytics, and applied machine learning — three with a peer-reviewed outcome.

Published — Journal of Emerging Investigators, Oct 2026

Geographic Proximity to Strong Competitors and Team Performance in High School Water Polo

Analyzed season-record performance and geographic location data from 755 U.S. high school boys' water polo teams using Moran's I and k-nearest-neighbor spatial methods. Contrary to the original hypothesis, results showed weak but statistically significant spatial dispersion rather than positive geographic clustering, both nationally and within California. First-author article, conducted with Professor Young Bae (Penn State University).

doi.org/10.59720/26-046 ↗ Code ↗

Second-round qualifier — IJAC 2026

Are AI-Generated Song Lyrics Less Diverse Than Human Lyrics?

A matched comparison of 213 human-written songs and 628 lyrics generated by Claude Sonnet 4.5 across three sampling temperatures. Measured semantic diversity using sentence embeddings and lexical diversity using MTLD, adjusting for genre and lyric length. AI-generated lyrics showed substantially lower semantic dispersion but higher lexical diversity than human lyrics; raising temperature increased lexical diversity without increasing semantic dispersion. Advanced to the second round of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences Competition (IJAC) 2026.

Under review — European Sport Management Quarterly

Public Rankings, Rank Responsiveness, and Persistent Published-versus-Record Differences in U.S. High School Water Polo

Built and analyzed a longitudinal dataset of 3,500+ team-seasons across 600+ programs using MaxPreps data and Python. Applied regression and fixed-effects models to study how publicly reported rankings respond to, and lag behind, real changes in team performance. Co-authored with Professor Young H. Bae, Penn State University.

OCSEF 2025 — Outstanding Achievement

A Dynamical Model for PM2.5 Accumulation and Removal

Developed a first-order dynamical model of PM2.5 concentration based on competing accumulation and meteorological removal processes. Derived the model's equilibrium, established global asymptotic stability, and analyzed recovery time and resilience, validating results through numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis. Presented at the 71st Annual Orange County Science & Engineering Fair.

Submitted — AGU26 Bright STaRS

Modeling Meteorological Controls on PM2.5 Recovery in Orange County, California

Extended earlier PM2.5 modeling work to examine how wind, precipitation, and background decay influence pollution persistence and recovery. Estimated model parameters from 4,105 daily observations (EPA/NOAA, 2014–2024); the fitted model achieved an RMSE of 4.40 µg/m³ and MAE of 2.85 µg/m³, with stability analysis confirming recovery toward a unique equilibrium after pollution shocks.

WAICY 2025

AI-Based Wildfire Vulnerability Index for California

Built a community-level wildfire vulnerability index integrating CAL FIRE, U.S. Census, CDC, and USGS data across fire hazard, social vulnerability, and emergency access. Trained a lightweight nonlinear MLP neural network on ten geospatial and socioeconomic features, achieving an MSE of 0.0004 and MAE of 0.0125, to support early risk identification and equitable resource allocation.

Code ↗

03 Experience

Aug 2026 – Present

Founder & Developer — Ashberry Entertainment

Founded an independent app-development studio focused on educational and casual mobile applications. Developed and published Founding Fathers Quiz for iOS and Android, managing product design, development, testing, and App Store release.
Aug 2026 – Present

Student Researcher — SCAS Research Training Program

Selected for the 2026–2027 Southern California Academy of Sciences Research Training Program; conducting mentored scientific research under Professor Young Bae.
May 2025 – Present

Research Assistant — High School Sports Analytics, Penn State University

First author of a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Emerging Investigators on spatial patterns in high school water polo performance. Built and analyzed a second longitudinal dataset of 3,500+ team-seasons to study ranking responsiveness; co-authored manuscript currently under review at European Sport Management Quarterly.
Sep 2024 – Present

Founder & President — InnoYouth

Lead a student-run nonprofit expanding access to educational resources for children and underserved communities. Brokered and coordinated the delivery of 47,820 Braille and tactile books ($765,120 retail value) to four organizations in the U.S. and the Philippines; built theinnoyouth.org.
May 2025 – Present

Editorial Intern — Thomas Jefferson Center

Selected as one of three Intern Editors from a dozen-plus essay-contest finalists. Edited and annotated award-winning student essays for a commemorative print volume marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, releasing in 2026.

04 Leadership & Impact

InnoYouth

47,820

Braille & tactile books placed with recipient organizations

$765,120

Documented retail value delivered

4

Recipient organizations across 2 countries, in 13 days

I founded InnoYouth in September 2024 to expand access to educational resources for children and underserved communities. Our Braille Book Access Project works by brokering: the books are manufactured by Sensee and were sitting in WithOn9's inventory. I made the case for donating them, then found and vetted organizations equipped to get them to blind and low-vision students — handling outreach, materials, and delivery logistics for each match. I also built and run the organization's website and public presence.

Delivery ledger — July 2026

Braille book deliveries coordinated by InnoYouth in July 2026
Date	Recipient	Destination	Books	Retail value
Jul 18	Orange County United Way	Orange County, CA	160	$2,560
Jul 25	Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown	Passi City & Miag-ao, Philippines	400	$6,400
Jul 29	Blind Children's Center	Los Angeles, CA	400	$6,400
Jul 30	Braille Institute	Los Angeles, CA	46,860	$749,760
Total			47,820	$765,120

The Braille Institute delivery accounts for 98% of the total — 2,343 boxes moved in three trips over a single day. It cleared WithOn9's remaining inventory down to roughly 2,000 books.

Ashton Jung standing beside a loaded semi-trailer during the Braille Institute delivery — 2,343 boxes, three trips, 7am–5pm — Braille Institute, July 30.

Handwritten thank-you card addressed to Ashton from the Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown, thanking him for the donation of Braille and tactile books for students across the Philippines — A handwritten note from the Rotary Club team on delivery day.

Ashton Jung and a partner with stacked boxes of Braille books at the Orange County United Way delivery — The first delivery — Orange County United Way, July 18.

theinnoyouth.org ↗

Recognized with the President's Volunteer Service Award and Certificates of Recognition from the State of California and the City of Buena Park. Deliveries are documented with acknowledgment letters from Orange County United Way and the Braille Institute.

05 Apps & Projects

Founding Fathers Quiz

An educational mobile quiz app about the Founding Fathers and early American history, built end-to-end — content, UI, testing, and store release — under Ashberry Entertainment. Started life as Voices of the Founders, a Congressional App Challenge submission, before launching publicly on iOS and Android.

App Store ↗

AirCast

A native iOS app that turns my PM2.5 dynamical modeling research into an honest, day-ahead air quality forecast — built on a real statistical model, not just a repost of someone else's number. This year's Congressional App Challenge submission.

Watch demo ↗

06 Videos

A couple of the app-demo and presentation videos I've put together — more on my channel.

AirCast — Congressional App Challenge Demo

Day-ahead PM2.5 forecasting app, walking through the model and the app built on it.

Voices of the Founders

An earlier Congressional App Challenge submission — the prototype that became Founding Fathers Quiz.

07 Honors, Certifications & Education

Honors & Awards

Second-round qualifier, IJAC 2026
USACO Silver Division (USA Computing Olympiad)
OCSEF — Outstanding Achievement & Participation
President's Volunteer Service Award
Certificates of Recognition — State of California & City of Buena Park

Certifications

Stanford AI4ALL — Computer Vision (Stanford HAI)
WAICY — Certificate of Participation, 2025
Coursera — Create the User Interface with SwiftUI
Coursera — Programming Fundamentals in Swift
Coursera — Introduction to iOS Mobile App Development

Education

Troy High School

2024 – 2028

Water Polo Team

Stanford University

Summer Program (non-degree), Artificial Intelligence · Jul 2025

Completed the Stanford AI4ALL Summer Program through the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), exploring AI, machine learning, and responsible AI use through lectures and project-based learning.

08 Get in touch

I'm always glad to talk research, mobile development, or ways to expand access to educational resources.

ajung0705@gmail.com LinkedIn ↗ GitHub ↗