
Shuzhe (Jerry) Guan, 关舒哲
Ph.D. Candidate
Interpreting scientific work to a general audience
One desire of mine is to publicize the scientific work of ecology & evolution biology (EEB) to people whose expertise does not lie here. The goal is to translate the often dry and descriptive scientific languages into something that nonbiologists find approachable. This goal is inspired by my personal interest in modern physics (i.e.relativity and quantum mechanics). Of course, I do not possess the mathematical or physical background to comprehend the relevant literature, but I still can get a glimpse of the beauty and simplicity these theories entail, thanks to the nice, illustrative animations made by caring physics experts. Therefore, I intend to utilize my knowledge, plus some creativity, to make EEB research attractive and understandable to a general audience. I did some of this work on Zhihu, and plan on doing it systematically in the near future. My role model here is 无穷小亮, and BBC earth by Sir David Frederick Attenborough (whose production literally cultivated my interest in nature and animals as a kid).
Introducing EEB as an area of study and giving advice on applying to grad schools to Chinese students
EEB is an underappreciated field of biology in China. Most people's understanding of EEB is nothing more than cellular biology or human biology (therefore medical sciences). Because of the unique educational system in China and complicated by the reputation of the schools themselves, most high school students in China choose to go to the best schools with whatever majors their Gaokao (高考) scores allow. Those who wish to pursue undergraduate studies abroad are usually advised by agencies to major in either economics, applied math or computational science because of these majors' broad applications. Thus, I wish to introduce EEB as an option for Chinese students, encouraging people attracted to the beauty of Nature to attempt this field. I have given several speeches about this field in my middle school, Shuangliu Middle school. This aspiration is also shaped by Dr. Manyuan Long (The University of Chicago) who was born and raised in China, and is now an established scientist in EEB. He thinks Chinese scholars are astonishingly underrepresented in academia, let alone in EEB.
Moreover, I was profoundly confused by the process of graduate application when I was a college junior. Luckily, I was helped by one of my undergraduate TAs, Elizabeth Bullard, who generously guided my grad school applications and asked in return nothing but me to help others with their grad applications when capable. Having applied for three admission cycles, I am rendered ready. So, if you are considering a career in EEB and want to talk about grad schools, please do not hesitate to reach out! I also have partnered with New Oriental Education & Technology in advising master's/ Ph.D. applications.