About me

The scientist:

I am currently a Ph.D graduate student at Cornell University. My career path has been nonlinear, beginning in high school where I first developed an appreciation for biology, economics, and architecture. I was attracted to these disciplines because the goal of each was the same: to describe complex systems by understanding with great detail the multitude of factors which play different roles for a given system. Unlike mathematics, which I also appreciated but never gravitated towards too much, the artistic and abstract nature of these disciplines were also appealing to me. It was just a weird mixture of exactness versus abstractness and holistic versus detail-oriented that was just right.

I received a B.S in Biochemistry in 2006. During my early undergraduate years, I spent a good deal of time exploring my interests in behavioral economics and biochemistry. I initially set out to study the relationship between siblings and the dimensions of personality. On a personal level, I am a brother so studying the influences of having siblings was interesting. On the academic side, consumer economics is heavily influenced by personal preferences which is probably affected by genetics and environment. Markets are constantly trying to gear products towards certain personalities-of-interest. As a young investigator, I was just trying to tip a toe into research. Later, I began working on elucidating the pathway linking myc to glucose and amino acid sensing. This experience would later solidify my career preference to biology because of flexibility of research. As mentioned before, I had about the same reasons why I was interested in biology and economics. But with biological research, I can actually control many more variables. I felt I could do a much better job "proving" ideas and making new ones.

In the long-term, I believe I can unify my wide interests (somehow) and benefit society. We operate on ideas that are the result of multidisciplinary work. How can we successfully mix influences from multiple different disciplines to get societal benefits from? That's the big unanswered question - that is what we call creativity and innovation.

The athlete:

I enjoy running and rowing. Two simple activities that are among the most grueling sports. I suppose the allures are personal endurance and accountability.

The chess amateur:

I enjoy a good chess game now and then. Nothing like pairing up pure wits against each other.