Hi everyone! My name is Jason, and I’m a senior majoring in bioengineering. I’m originally from LA but lived for 14 years in Taiwan.

A quick overview of how I became a bioE major: I applied to Caltech as a mechanical engineer and came to Caltech specifically to work at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. However, on the second day of school, a good friend of mine convinced me to try out biology, so I enrolled in the bioengineering pizza course. Turns out, bioengineering is really cool, and I enjoyed hearing about the research the professors were showcasing. This was good enough to persuade me to commit to a major in bioengineering.

Right now, I am working as a developmental biology researcher at Bronner lab. We are investigating the heterogeneity in the enteric nervous system of lamprey to understand how the gastrointestinal tract evolved. I am very glad to be able to work on the project that had initially inspired me to become a bioE, and I am fortunate to have a great lab to support me throughout the research process. 

I also worked as a machine learning engineer at JPL last summer. My project was on assessing satellite synthetic aperture radar for wildfire and soil moisture monitoring. It was very cool working with the proprietary datasets and being able to apply ML for large-scale real-world problems. 

Extracurricularly, I’m involved in a number of student-activities. I’m the current president of Medlife, a medicine-based outreach club. We showcase science demos (e.g., inflatable pig lungs, ultrasound probes) at local science fairs to promote STEM engagement in youth, particularly for underserved areas. I’m also the president of Hacktech, Caltech’s annual intercollegiate hackathon. I’m also on Caltech’s NCAA swim team as a breaststroker.  

Outside of class, I love doing physical activities. I’ve recently really gotten into skiing, though I have not had much time for that yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to do more of that in the future! On a day-to-day basis, I love to play table tennis. I’m always happy to play a couple games with anyone! I also like birdwatching using my binoculars. Fun fact about my binoculars: they were built in the Soviet Union! 

I’m really excited to share my experience at Caltech and in Pasadena with y’all. I’ve had a great 3 years here so far and hope my stories in this blog will convey that well!