On a slightly overcast afternoon in the Heller Brown Lab at UCSD, rain began pattering against the windows, foreshadowing the storm to come the next day. Workers in the lab began layering on their coats, sweaters, and scarves, preparing for the chilling stroll down to Price Center for lunch. While everyone began vacating the lab, Olivia Yu was hard at work, finishing as much lab work as she could schedule during the daylight.
Olivia is another softly spoken student attending UCSD, following her passion for biology. At first sight, she may seem like yet another graduate student working to obtain her PhD, but after a short interview with her, it became immediately noticeable that she had more to offer than just research papers and lab knowledge.
Born into a family of engineers, Olivia was the first from her household to become a scientist. She first became interested in Biology during her first year acquiring her undergraduate degree at UCSB. “I basically did undergraduate research for the lab...and then I realized, hey, I’m actually pretty good at this, and I like it.”Once achieving her undergraduate degree, she had a few options presented to her. “ I knew that I was either going to go to med school, or get a PhD, and then I realized that I really liked to do research, so I decided to get a PhD.” She then managed to get into various PhD programs, including Yale’s and UCSD’s. She ended up in the Joan Heller Brown Lab at UCSD, where she mentored me through my internship.
While everyone began vacating the lab for lunch, my mentor Olivia and I sat down for a short interview covering her educational life, her personal interests, and words of wisdom. She jokingly offered as her first words of advice: “Stay in school, don't do drugs, and don't get a girl pregnant; your parents won’t like that.”
Jonathan Hays: So how did you become interested in biology?
Olivia Yu: In college, I volunteered in a lab, well I basically did undergraduate research for the lab and I started my freshman year. And then I realized, hey, I’m actually pretty good at this and I like it, so thats how I got interested
J: How did you decide to go after obtaining a PhD?
O: Well, I think I kind of knew that I was either going to med school, or going to get a PhD, and then I realized that I really liked to do research, so I decided to get a PhD, because I'm not actually interested in going to med school
J: What do you plan on doing after you obtain your PhD?
O: Oh good question, What do I want to do? Lets see… Well ideally - I don't know. I could be a professor, and be like Dr Joan Heller Brown, and have students like you come, and teach them things, but then there are other things I can do too. I can do like science writing, or i don't know, like patent law, which would require me to go to law school too, so we’ll see if that works out or not.
J: Are you interested in teaching?
O: Well, I didn't think i was before cause I didn’t think I’d be a very good teacher, but after having a couple of good experiences this year, I think that, yeah, I would be interested in it, at least to delve further into it, or do it a little more. I enjoyed teaching you.
J: Why did you agree to taking an intern?
O: Well actually I’ve never had a student before, ever, so congratulations Jon, you were the first one, so you were like the guinea pig. So, hopefully it was an okay experience. But i think it was just because I wanted to try how it was.
J: So do you ever regret not being a music major?
O: In large part, no, but do I miss it? Yeah. Do i miss being a music major? I mean do I miss playing piano, yes. because its not as accessible anymore for me, but Do I miss starving because I’d be a music major? no.
J: So your first teaching experience was while being a teaching assistant in a middle school
O: Sort of yeah, I went to a middle school to bring science to kids, in underrepresented, underprivileged schools, and they were all in the seventh grade so it was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be/
J: How did you find out about that opportunity?
O: Oh, that was because we have to do a TA requirement, and another option instead of TA-ing college class is to go work with these kids in middle school so I chose that option.
J: What is best thing a teacher ever told you?
O: -repeats question- Probably to do something that you really like to do, because as nice as it sounds getting a PhD it’s actually a really difficult emotionally draining process. So, if you don't actually like to do what you're doing, it's really hard to to achieve what you want. Its just, it makes it that much more difficult if you don't like it.
J: If you had any advice for an aspiring undergrad, what would it be?
O: Work in a lab, explore all your possibilities, but try to get some hands on experience because the books can only teach you so much, but its completely different when you actually go into a lab and work with your hands. It’s very very different, and from there you can decide if you actually like it.
J: Who would you say has been a mentor for you?
O: Probably all of the advisors that I’ve had over the years, mostly the advisors that I've done research with. So like my advisor in undergrad, in the lab that I worked in, then my advisor now that i'm getting my PhD with now.
J: Do you have any regrets so far; If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be?
O:-repeats question- Probably be better at math, just because I’m not very good at math. But no, I don't have very many regrets, no not really so far. Ask me in ten years, but i don't have any right now that i can think of from the top of my head.
Olivia is another softly spoken student attending UCSD, following her passion for biology. At first sight, she may seem like yet another graduate student working to obtain her PhD, but after a short interview with her, it became immediately noticeable that she had more to offer than just research papers and lab knowledge.
Born into a family of engineers, Olivia was the first from her household to become a scientist. She first became interested in Biology during her first year acquiring her undergraduate degree at UCSB. “I basically did undergraduate research for the lab...and then I realized, hey, I’m actually pretty good at this, and I like it.”Once achieving her undergraduate degree, she had a few options presented to her. “ I knew that I was either going to go to med school, or get a PhD, and then I realized that I really liked to do research, so I decided to get a PhD.” She then managed to get into various PhD programs, including Yale’s and UCSD’s. She ended up in the Joan Heller Brown Lab at UCSD, where she mentored me through my internship.
While everyone began vacating the lab for lunch, my mentor Olivia and I sat down for a short interview covering her educational life, her personal interests, and words of wisdom. She jokingly offered as her first words of advice: “Stay in school, don't do drugs, and don't get a girl pregnant; your parents won’t like that.”
Jonathan Hays: So how did you become interested in biology?
Olivia Yu: In college, I volunteered in a lab, well I basically did undergraduate research for the lab and I started my freshman year. And then I realized, hey, I’m actually pretty good at this and I like it, so thats how I got interested
J: How did you decide to go after obtaining a PhD?
O: Well, I think I kind of knew that I was either going to med school, or going to get a PhD, and then I realized that I really liked to do research, so I decided to get a PhD, because I'm not actually interested in going to med school
J: What do you plan on doing after you obtain your PhD?
O: Oh good question, What do I want to do? Lets see… Well ideally - I don't know. I could be a professor, and be like Dr Joan Heller Brown, and have students like you come, and teach them things, but then there are other things I can do too. I can do like science writing, or i don't know, like patent law, which would require me to go to law school too, so we’ll see if that works out or not.
J: Are you interested in teaching?
O: Well, I didn't think i was before cause I didn’t think I’d be a very good teacher, but after having a couple of good experiences this year, I think that, yeah, I would be interested in it, at least to delve further into it, or do it a little more. I enjoyed teaching you.
J: Why did you agree to taking an intern?
O: Well actually I’ve never had a student before, ever, so congratulations Jon, you were the first one, so you were like the guinea pig. So, hopefully it was an okay experience. But i think it was just because I wanted to try how it was.
J: So do you ever regret not being a music major?
O: In large part, no, but do I miss it? Yeah. Do i miss being a music major? I mean do I miss playing piano, yes. because its not as accessible anymore for me, but Do I miss starving because I’d be a music major? no.
J: So your first teaching experience was while being a teaching assistant in a middle school
O: Sort of yeah, I went to a middle school to bring science to kids, in underrepresented, underprivileged schools, and they were all in the seventh grade so it was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be/
J: How did you find out about that opportunity?
O: Oh, that was because we have to do a TA requirement, and another option instead of TA-ing college class is to go work with these kids in middle school so I chose that option.
J: What is best thing a teacher ever told you?
O: -repeats question- Probably to do something that you really like to do, because as nice as it sounds getting a PhD it’s actually a really difficult emotionally draining process. So, if you don't actually like to do what you're doing, it's really hard to to achieve what you want. Its just, it makes it that much more difficult if you don't like it.
J: If you had any advice for an aspiring undergrad, what would it be?
O: Work in a lab, explore all your possibilities, but try to get some hands on experience because the books can only teach you so much, but its completely different when you actually go into a lab and work with your hands. It’s very very different, and from there you can decide if you actually like it.
J: Who would you say has been a mentor for you?
O: Probably all of the advisors that I’ve had over the years, mostly the advisors that I've done research with. So like my advisor in undergrad, in the lab that I worked in, then my advisor now that i'm getting my PhD with now.
J: Do you have any regrets so far; If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be?
O:-repeats question- Probably be better at math, just because I’m not very good at math. But no, I don't have very many regrets, no not really so far. Ask me in ten years, but i don't have any right now that i can think of from the top of my head.