A Short Autobiography

Because brevity is the soul of wit.

Education

I am a 2nd year student of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Because it is a coop program, I get to experience equal parts work and study!

Interests

Data science and machine learning

I find these two fields interesting because of their game-changing implications for biomedical technology, such aiding radiologists in interpreting their massive sets of images. Right now, I'm only using Python modules and APIs for these applications. I plan to learn R and Matlab, as well as gain insight on the inner workings of Machine Learning.

Entrepreneurship

I was exposed to entrepreneurship through Shad Valley, which is a month-long Canadian summer program with a focus on STEM. For our central design project, we were separated into groups of 8 and designed business plans and prototypes for a product. I had the (fortune) of being teamed up with some of the most motivated people in Canada, which later lead me to the opportunity of showcasing our project for the national Shad Cup. During my remaining 4 undergraduate years I'm definitely going to take advantage of uWaterloo's strong support for startups.

Self-study

With our modern resources, why is education the way it is? Because learning is so important in all stages of life, I enjoy self-learning topics through different mediums to explore the paths to mastery.

Some other interests

Cooking

What started as an early addiction to instant ramen ended up as proficiency in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cooking. My favorite form of cooking is the Chinese stir-fry. After heating my carbon-steel wok until it smokes, the suspense of keeping the ingredients in constant motion and the musical clattering of the metal spatula create the most sensational atmosphere.

Piano

I really hated Piano. I stuck to it against my will. I hated it for years until the sudden realization that my eyes glowed when I spoke of topic. Since then, I attained my RCM level 10 certificate and still play daily. Favorite composers include Bach, Chopin, Joe Hisaishi and Richard Clayderman.

Photography

Students of Waterloo have an obsession for high resolution hallway photos, with me being no exception. (As shown above) I happened to have a seldom-used dslr camera lying around, so why not pick up a skill?

I had ten days of free time after my first coop. I immediately took a Udemy course. It's impossible to learn from just watching minute-long videos, so for those ten days, I took my DSLR everywhere and put the concepts into practice. While I'm still no expert, feel free to contact me for a portrait shot if you're nearby uWaterloo!

Ending my Illiteracy

Like too many Chinese who were raised abroad, I am illiterate in my home-spoken language. Ever since I stopped my childhood efforts to learn Chinese, I had given up on ever gaining the ability to read and write the language. I regret this because of its beautiful novels and poetry and fascinating recipes.

For both personal and career reasons, I have decided to pick up the arduous task of learning Chinese. I aim to know 800 words by summer's end, and over 2000 by the early 2018.