Letters to a Pre-Scientist

Over the course of a year, I wrote four letters to a middle schooler paired with me through the program. Collected here as one record. The student's name has been replaced throughout.

Letter IJanuary 1, 2024

Hi J,

This is Chen. Thank you for your letter. I like your handwriting! My handwriting on the other hand is too horrible so I will spare you from it for this round :) What positions do you play in football and basketball? Forgive my ignorance; the only terminology I know about American Football is "fumble," so whenever I watch a game with my friends and someone drops the ball, I will just yell "fumble!!!" My friends all make fun of me. Same with Kickball! Oh gosh, it was a lot of fun and "disastrous" at the same time. Can you believe a bunch of adults (nerds) in their 30s and 40s gather together and spend hours playing kickball? Anyway, you will have to teach me more about sports. I'm counting on you :)

It's wonderful that you love poetry and the ocean. Have you thought about somehow combining them together? The ocean, to me, is very poetic. The tides come and go, like the rhythm in poetry. The uncertain nature of the ocean is just like the free spirits in poems. Have you heard of something called "turbulence"? It's causing the ocean flow to be so unpredictable. It gave me a lot of a hard time when I was in college studying it. It involves a lot of math, physics, and computer modeling, but hey, it's so unpredictable that we still can't crack it.

A little bit more about me and what I do: I grew up in Shanghai, China. I'm the only child but I grew up with a lot of close friends. I went to college in another less famous city called Hefei, where I studied Atmospheric Sciences. Then I came to the United States in 2014 to pursue graduate study in a Climate Change related field. I did a lot of computer programming as a part of my research (I know, nerds!) which got me very into software engineering. So here I am! Now I work at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, writing research software and applications that help scientists conduct their research. My typical day starts with a lot of caffeine, haha. I work with other software engineers on multiple projects while collaborating with different scientists to design and develop software. We do all kinds of software, from measuring earthquake damage to analyzing social media data, monitoring corn and soybean growth, to create apps for COVID testing, hehe, you name it! If you are curious, you can find one of my projects here: ncsa.illinois.edu. It also has my headshot there, and I look very professional, or at least I tried :D

When I'm not working, I enjoy drawing and painting (I include some of the prints of my painting hope you like it). My childhood dream was to become a manga artist, but my parents insisted I pursue STEM. I didn't quite understand them, and we fought a lot. But now I'm grateful for their insistence. Maths and Physics were never easy for me; I used to get horrible, horrible, horrible scores, maybe C- or D or even F! But I'm glad I kept banging my head on them. Working in the field of STEM makes me feel like I'm building a practical tool, solving a concrete problem, and making a real contribution. And my work gives me artsy inspiration, and my artsy inspiration in reverse energizes my work. I'm really glad that you are the same way. You like P.E., you like poetry, and you like the ocean!

I can't wait for you to tell me more about yourself. And forgive my writing since English is not my native language. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Best,
Chen

Letter IIFebruary 24, 2024

Hi J,

Apologies for the delayed response. I was traveling to visit my friend in Missouri and just received your letter upon my return. Happy New Year!

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed my drawings! I've turned some of them into a calendar for next year, and I'll include a copy for you. Enjoy! Also, thank you for finding my job cool; that means a lot to me.

Are you interested in my college journey? I attended college from 2007 to 2011 and went on graduate studies from 2011 to 2015, totaling eight years of schooling wow! I wasn't thinking too much when going to college. As a kid growing up in China (you've probably heard about the stereotype of Asian kids, and it's partially true :-p), going to college was just a no-brainer, so I went with the flow. I chose a college five hours away from home because I wanted to be more independent. I picked the major "Atmospheric Sciences" just because it sounded cool, and it turned out to be cool, but I discovered that much later.

Looking back, I wish I had put more thought into why I wanted to go to college and what the best major for me would be. College is probably still a long way off for you, so you have plenty of time to think about those things. To me, the most suitable education and career path involves the combination of three things: 1. Something you are passionate about, 2. Something you are good at (with practice), and 3. Something that will support you financially. Sometimes it's very hard to satisfy all three of those; other times, it's even harder to figure out what you like and what you are good at. It's definitely a lot of trial and error.

Maybe you could start by looking at the current subjects you are studying at school and identifying your strengths and favorites. Are there any extracurricular activities that excite you? Or any clubs you can join? Is there a college nearby that you can visit to get a feel for the campus vibe? Honestly, anything that helps you gather more information could be beneficial towards college.

How did your big test go? By the time you read my letter, you probably have already finished the test! I bet it's not too shabby :)

The FNAF movie sounds super cool. I've never watched it, but now I'm intrigued. Are you into video games since I heard it's based on a video game? Haha, I like a lot of movies; it's so hard to choose one. But it's a little bit unusual as a girl, but I actually like horror and thriller, zombies, aliens, and Godzilla. I also like sci-fi very much. My favorite sci-fi movies are "Arrival" and the "Cloverfield" series.

Hmm, tips for science? I used to struggle hard in physics myself. I would say ask a lot of questions. Whenever you don't understand a certain part or can't solve a problem, don't hesitate to reach out. I was quite shy back then, so I just kept banging my head at those and still was clueless. It would have been more efficient if I had reached out for help. Another thing is finding interesting things that spark curiosity and joy in science. Like you mentioned that you like learning about different states of matter. Maybe you could find a book to read more about those. The state of matter has a ton of applications in life. For example, dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide, and some chefs at fancy restaurants use it to cool down their fancy desserts :) For myself, my favorite classes are geology and geography. Earth, oceans, mountains, islands, and people who live all over the world fascinate me. And maybe that's why I'm here in the States, across the globe from my hometown.

Looking forward to hearing from you again. Enjoy 2024, the Year of the Dragon!

Best,
Chen

Letter IIIMay 9, 2024

Hi J,

I hope you're enjoying the start of 2024, the year of the Dragon! By the way, I'm a Snake. Just out of curiosity, what's your zodiac sign? For the Christmas break, I stayed with my friends and their family in Columbia, Missouri. It was a lot of fun. I brought my cat, Momo, with me, so it turned into a little road trip for the two of us. My friends have two kids, and we spent our time watching cartoons, visiting a local alpaca farm, and meeting their extended family. We also cooked big meals, enjoyed lots of food, opened gifts, and just chilled. Overall, it was a very relaxing and enjoyable time.

It's great to hear you're helping your mom with cooking! What's your favorite dish? And what gifts did you receive? I'd love to hear more about these things. :-D

Oh, you're interested in my college journey? Let me jog my memory. It was my first time leaving home, and everything felt thrilling, exciting, and intimidating all at once. Thankfully, I made a lot of good friends. Since my college was very STEM-oriented with not many females, I ended up hanging out mostly with guys. We'd play sports together; I even joined the women's soccer team because they had trouble finding 11 players. We also pulled many all-nighters playing video games.

Setting the fun aside, the academic side was quite challenging. I remember failing "Partial Differential Equations" twice. The first time, I didn't study enough, and the second time, nerves got the better of me. However, the third time was the charm. I immersed myself in studying, prepared thoroughly, and passed. To this day, I'm incredibly proud of that achievement. I draw on this memory, and many others like it, whenever I face tough times. Each challenge feels like an opportunity to stretch my limits. These past experiences boost my confidence, reassuring me that I can overcome similar obstacles. Speaking of challenges, I'm currently facing a tight deadline at work. We're developing software for city planners in various cities affected by natural disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. We have about a month to develop new features and conduct a series of workshops with real urban planners. It almost feels like mission impossible. But, drawing upon my past experiences and realizing the strength within me, I'm optimistic. With proper time management, task planning, collaboration, and hard work, we hope to deliver what we've promised. Does this also answer your question about how fun my job is?

Haha, I'm glad to hear about your aspirations to become a chef or a scientist. That's awesome, knowing what you want to be at such an early stage in life. Both paths require a lot of determination, perseverance, and passion. I hope you acquire all these qualities as you grow.

Anyway I will stop my rambling from here. Looking forward to your next letter.

Best,
Chen

P.S. I looked up "The House on Mango Street." It seems so interesting. I might start reading it myself. Hopefully, we can compare notes on the book in our next letter.

Letter IVOctober 15, 2024

Hi J,

Apologies for the delay; the past few weeks have been incredibly hectic. I spent almost every week in April traveling for a community resilience workshop aimed at helping cities affected by severe weather events to better prepare for future disasters. Our stops included Galveston, Texas (my first time in Texas woohoo), Joplin, Missouri (which was hit by a massive tornado in 2011), and Salt Lake City, Utah, which experienced an earthquake in 2020. Salt Lake City was particularly stunning; I was amazed by nature's beauty and reminded of how small our lives are in comparison to the vastness of nature.

During my trip to Joplin, things actually didn't go as planned. We were set to demonstrate software live to the local government officials, but there were network issues, and not all participants could connect. Then, the projector failed, leaving me with nothing to present. I almost panicked, feeling deeply discouraged after months of hard work. In that moment, I remembered advice I once heard: difficult situations are inevitable, and while we can't always predict or prepare for them, we can rely on our inner strength and resourcefulness. I quickly gathered the remote team for debugging and worked with other presenters to buy some time. We managed to turn the event into an interactive discussion, gathering valuable insights from the local government on practical support needed to mitigate future tornado damage. A bit of humor also helped: I joked that if the network issue wasn't resolved, I'd camp there until it was, no matter how long it took!

I'm sure you've faced tough times yourself and have your own strategies for resilience. I hope my story offers some encouragement. What's your approach to dealing with difficulties? Do you have a go-to positive affirmation?

Anyway, enough about me, how have you been? Is the semester wrapping up soon? Any plans for the summer? I'd love to hear all about it in your next letter!

Best,
Chen