curriculum vitae

Education

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, AUSTIN, TX: August 2020 – August 2023
M.A. Cell and Molecular Biology, GPA: 3.92
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE, IRVINE, CA: August 2016 - March 2020
B.S. Biological Sciences with Honors in Biological Sciences, GPA: 3.59

Certifications/Courses

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX: Creative Communication of Scientific Research, Spring 2022
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX: Grant Writing & Presentation Skills, Fall 2021

Science Communication Experience

Education, Outreach, and Diversity Manager, May 2024 - Present
NSF Center for Genetically Encoded Materials, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

  • Connect Scientists and the General Public
    • Connect C-GEM faculty, students, and staff to students, teachers, and to the general public.
    • Plan, facilitate, and manage logistics for in-person and remote C-GEM outreach opportunities, such as K-12 classrooms, STEM fairs and festivals, museums, afterschool workshops, homeschool groups, etc.
  • Manage the C-GEM Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)
    • Prepare marketing materials, deliver information sessions, and recruit applicants through email campaigns
    • Organize logistics for participant travel and housing, and manage payments of participant tuition and stipends
    • Plan and deliver professional development and skill development workshops for participants on topics including resume/CV writing and science communication
    • Evaluate programmatic elements to assess efficacy
  • Support Educational and Professional Development Programming for C-GEM Members
    • Organize virtual "career chat" events including inviting panelists, producing marketing materials, writing interview questions, moderating the panel, and performing pre/post-event evaluation
    • Develop events that align with the needs of C-GEM students and postdocs
  • Content and Educational Material Development
    • Develop unique outreach activities to communicate C-GEM's research to a general audience
      • Example: A puzzle board game that demonstrates how scientists use directed evolution to engineer proteins - in development
    • Produce resources and guides for others to facilitate C-GEM outreach activities
    • Evaluate activities to assess participants' engagement, understanding, and science identity
  • Support C-GEM Center-wide activities
    • Curate weekly internal newsletter with relevant opportunities, papers, and other information
    • Maintain C-GEM website by updating news posts, writing blog posts, and social media posts
    • Complete other miscellaneous administrative tasks that support center-wide operations

Education Facilitator, December 2023 - May 2024
University of California, Berkeley, The Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA

  • Engage audiences of all ages in activities and conversations relating to biology, computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and more
  • Facilitate informal STEAM activities and experiences throughout the Lawrence Hall of Science to support learning in a hands-on and inquiry-based learning environment
  • Deliver educational program presentations both informally and in a structured manner

Freelance Writer/Science Communicator, September 2023 - Present
Independent, Remote

  • Translate scientific papers into language accessible to the general public
  • Present scientific information in engaging and creative ways
  • Articles appear in publications including Heartbeat Magazine, LabBites, and MicroBites

Graduate Research Assistant, August 2020 - August 2023
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
RESEARCH ADVISOR: Dr. Shelley Payne

  • Write and present a proposal on current and future research
  • Assemble slide decks for presentations geared toward other scientists and the general public
  • Research and review current published literature regarding research topic
  • Write and edit manuscripts on my first-author research experiments for Master’s thesis

Writer/Science Communicator, March 2023 - August 2023
The International Microbiology Literacy Initiative, Austin, TX

  • Write instructional material intended for educators about microbes that cause disease in humans

Writer/Contributor, November 2020 - August 2023
The Scope, Austin, TX

  • Write articles about science communication, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, and the graduate student experience
  • Interview subjects for articles
  • Read, edit, and fact-check articles written by other writers
  • Design and maintain website with HTML/CSS and WordPress
  • Design newsletters with HTML/CSS and distribute them with MailChimp

Undergraduate Research Assistant, September 2018 - June 2020
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA
RESEARCH ADVISOR: Dr. Albert Siryaporn

  • Write and edit manuscripts on my first-author research experiments for publication in scientific journals
  • Develop slide decks for group presentations geared toward other scientists and the general public
  • Review published literature regarding research topic

Medicine and Research Committee Chair, June 2018 - June 2020
Morning Sign Out at UCI, Irvine, CA

  • Approve topics that writers pitched about global and local research
  • Read, edit, and fact-check articles and video scripts written by committee members
  • Design and maintain WordPress website & newsletters using HTML/CSS and Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Promote articles spotlight writers on social media

Writer/Editor, October 2017 - June 2020
Morning Sign Out at UCI, Irvine, CA

  • Regular site contributor and science communicator
  • Interview subjects for articles
  • Write articles & script/edit videos about science, tech, and health news

Classroom Instruction Experience

Microbiology Laboratory Teaching Assistant, January 2023 – June 2023
University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences, Austin, TX

  • Responsible for BIO 226L, provide guidance for undergraduates in microbiological experiments and procedures
  • Grade lab reports, assignments, and assessments, and providing feedback on scientific writing

Stockroom Assistant, December 2017 - June 2020
University of California, Irvine, Chemistry Department, Irvine, CA

  • Provide assistance and instruction for students in organic chemistry courses (CHEM M3LC, CHEM H52LA,B,C, CHEM M52LA,B,C, CHEM 128L)
  • Be familiar with laboratory equipment such as spectrometers, micropipettes, the Chromatotron, etc.

Teacher’s Assistant, June 2016 - July 2016
Richie’s English School, Taipei, Taiwan

  • Grade essays and personally helped students who did not speak English as their first language
  • Write questions for examinations
  • Write sample essays for students to provide examples of formal English use

Publications

“Do Psychedelics have a Medical Use?” Morning Sign Out at UCI - January 2018
“Doctors Crossing Borders” Morning Sign Out at UCI - March 2018
“The Epipen: The Symbol of American Healthcare” Morning Sign Out at UCI - April 2018
“What’s the Risk?” Morning Sign Out at UCI - July 2018
“Study Drugs: How Do They Work?” Morning Sign Out at UCI - August 2018
“Escherichia coli Mutants Resistant to Biofilm Dispersal from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Signaling.” Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Biological Sciences - June 2020
“What We Need to Learn from the Plastic Shortage” The Scope - September 2021
“Is Science Communication the Solution to STEM’s Inaccessibility?” The Scope - June 2022
“The Great Mastodon Migration” The Scope - November 2022
“Streptococcus pyogenes” The International Microbiology Literacy Initiative: The MicroStars Galleries - unpublished
“Haemophilus influenzae” The International Microbiology Literacy Initiative: The MicroStars Galleries - unpublished
“The role of type I interferon in Shigella flexneri pathogenesis” Master’s Thesis – August 2023
“A Figure is Worth a Thousand Words: A Scientist's Guide to Alt Text” LabBites - October 2023
“Can red seaweed be the solution for cow burps?” MicroBites – October 2023
“The Ear: How we touch sound” Heartbeat Magazine – Unpublished

Presentations

“Escherichia coli Mutants Resistant to Biofilm Dispersal from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Signaling.” Undergraduate Research Symposium - May 2020

Honors/Awards

CHI AM SCHOLARSHIP - Chi Am Circle Club, June 2016
PRESIDENTIAL SERVICE AWARD - Formosa Association of Student Cultural Ambassadors, 2016
DISCOVERY SCHOLARSHIP - University of California, Irvine, September 2016
DEAN’S HONOR LIST - University of California, Irvine, Fall 2017, Winter 2018, Spring 2018, Winter 2019, Spring 2019
SURP FELLOWSHIP - Summer Undergraduate Research Program, Summer 2019
UROP FELLOWSHIP - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, 2019-2020 academic year
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH – UCI Biological Sciences, June 2020
ICMB AWARD - Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Program, September 2020

Research Experience

Graduate Research Assistant, August 2020 - present
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
RESEARCH ADVISOR: Dr. Shelley Payne

  • Human intestinal enteroid (HIE): cultivating HIEs, which are a stem cell derived model of the intestinal epithelium, to be used in modeling intestinal bacterial infections
  • Bacteroidetes theta outer membrane vesicles (OMV): collecting B. theta OMVs to determine how they affect Shigella flexneri invasion of the intestinal epithelium
  • Type I interferon (IFN) in S. flexneri infection: determining how the human innate immune response protects against or exacerbates invasive bacterial infections

Undergraduate Research Assistant, September 2018 - June 2020
University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA
RESEARCH ADVISOR: Dr. Albert Siryaporn

  • Bacterial biofilms and bacterial communication via quorum sensing
    • Escherichia coli biofilm dispersal via Pseudomonas aeruginosa signaling
    • Vibrio cholerae biofilm dispersal through autoinducer signaling

Additional Skills

Adobe Creative Cloud – Airtable – Slack – Google Suite – MS Office – RStudio – ImageJ – Obsidian – Canvas Instructure – WordPress – MailChimp – HTML/CSS – Microscopy – Chemical handling – Aseptic technique – Animal handling – Zotero – Mandarin