My throat tightened as tears welled up in my eyes. Slowly, I placed a slice of my Nemo-themed, blue frosted cake in front of my mother’s portrait. It was my 6 th birthday —three days after my mother passed away from peritoneal cancer. Faced with the undeniable truth of her passing, I didn’t know how to feel, what to do, or who to talk to. I was living in a nightmare that I could not wake up from. Soon...

Trial. Error. Repeat. The fundamentals of discovering any solution. As an aspiring engineer, I seek for an environment where I can learn through my own discoveries instead of being told the right answers. Over the years, programming has enabled me to create and solve a wide array of complex projects. From the first day of my Java coding class, I discovered that I could create literally anything and everything with lines of letters, numbers, and symbols. With every error I...

As I caught one last glimpse of Beijing's smoggy skies through the airplane window, I realized that I was leaving a part of me behind. In 12 hours, I will be living with a new family. In 12 hours, I will not see my relatives for another few years. I sit back, close my eyes, and ponder about the new life that awaits me. When I moved back to the United States after living 3 years in Beijing, I relinquished my Chinese roots...

The brain of a computer fascinates me more than any other brain in the world. Since a young age, my mother’s battle with cancer prompted my interest in technology. When I picked up my first LEGO robot, I was overcome by curiosity with the way each motor functioned to navigate itself through obstacles. With simple lines of command, I taught it how to act like a person. Soon, it became apparent to me that I could one day use...

My throat tightened as tears welled up in my eyes. Slowly, I placed a slice of my Nemo-themed, blue frosted cake in front of my mother’s portrait. It was my 6 th birthday — also three days after my mother lost her battle to peritoneal cancer. Faced with the undeniable shock of her passing, I did not know how to feel, what to do, or who to talk to. I felt trapped in a nightmare I could not wake up from....

In 2009, I moved to Beijing to start first grade. Insecure about my broken American-accented Chinese, I shied away from everyday conversations and dreaded being the center of attention. However, by the time I started adjusting to my environment, I had to move back to America. I struggled to communicate simple phrases in English and felt out of place in this environment that I used to call home. Growing up without a motherly figure, I lacked a female role model in...

Over the past years, biomedical research has allowed me to express my creative side. My inspired interest in the field of engineering and medicine stems from my grandpa’s medical condition. Once an active swimmer and cyclist, he is now confined to his small apartment due to his limited mobility. Every summer when I visited him in Beijing, he required assistance with daily tasks, such as collecting the newspaper or getting up in the middle of the night. I became...