My name is Yang Chen. I cannot forget the excitement the first time that I put my eyes close to a microscope to look into a single cell; I was 14 and in 8th grade Biology class. From that moment, I fell in love with biological sciences and have continued to view the world through the lens of biology ever since. Over the past 20 years, I have eagerly pursued advanced training in biological sciences to enhance my own personal understanding of science. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering in China, I moved to Hokkaido University in Japan to continue my Master’s studies. Studying with Dr. Minagawa Jun has given me great opportunities to collaborate with scientists from different countries (including America, France, German, China, and Japan). I not only enjoyed discussing science with them, but also started to get interested in international communication. Because of this, I decided to master Japanese while I was in Japan and became a volunteer translator there. In 2011, I moved my passion of biological sciences to Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Currently I have the great opportunity to work on my thesis with Dr. Falvo at the War Related Illness and Injury Center in the Veteran Affair New Jersey Health System. Because my study involves understanding mitochondrial dysfunction in veterans, I collaborate with both a clinical research team and a basic science team. All these experiences help me understand and appreciate even more the importance of scientific communication between different backgrounds of people. The VA hospital holds an annual “Research Day” and invites researchers to present their posters to veterans (non-scientists), VA health care providers (physicians, nurses) and VA employees. Communicating how our work is relevant to each group of people was an incredible opportunity, each requiring a different style and language. While the VA hospital Research Day provided a unique opportunity for scientists and non-scientists to share information in a respectful way, I realized these opportunities are quite limited in daily life. Moreover, most scientists have not had training and/or opportunities in how to communicate science directly to the general public. In order to enhance the public’s understanding of science, I believe there needs to be a mutual exchange of information between researchers and the general public. This approach may narrow the wide gaps in opinion between scientists and non-scientists. Communicating science to the public has increasingly become a passion of mine that I hope to cultivate through the iJOBS program. I am very excited in starting my blogger life here. Hope my tiny sharing with all of you will fire your dream up in either academic or non-academic world!
iJOBS Blog