A 2012 University of Hawaii-­Manoa alumnus will appear on today’s season premiere of “Jeopardy!”

Jeff Rich, who earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at UH, described the pre-taped episode in a news release as exciting.

“I was in the first group of contestants for the day, so I felt extra nervous right up until the taping started, then everything feels like it happens really quickly! During the prep for the show, they warn you that the taping goes quickly, and they weren’t kidding,” he said.

While he was prohibited from elaborating on how he did on the show, he did say he enjoyed meeting the show’s legendary host, Alex Trebek.

“It was overwhelming to participate and to see someone I’d watched on TV so many times for so long, but he was a nice guy. Alex even complimented my tie when we took our photo together. I’ll probably remember that better than anything else about the whole experience,” Rich said.

The show is taped in Los Angeles, where Rich works as an outreach coordinator at Carnegie Observatories, an astronomy research institute, UH said.

The university said Rich is the second “Jeopardy!” contestant out of the UH-Manoa Institute for Astronomy. In 2001 physics and astronomy instructor Mike Nassir won second place.

Rich’s episode airs at 4 p.m. on KGMB.