Course evaluation and self reflection.

At the beginning of the semester, I was looking for classes that are different from the engineering classes. Also, I wanted a class that teaches me how to find a job. I found a book "What color is your parachute" recommended in this course website. I thought it must be helpful for my job search. Those were the reasons for taking the course.

After taking the course, I have had a positive learning experience. By experience, I really mean experience. The course did not teach long equations and theories. Rather, we have had the experience of writing a proposal, blogging and interviewing. These seemed not as important as the hard core knowledge. However, I strongly believe that these skills are absolutely necessary to differentiate yourself from the rest who are also well educated.

I really like the fact that I could receive feedback in the class. And I've received plenty from Brad and my classmates in ES2007S. The courses with final exams did not satisfy me because I would never know what was wrong with my answers, essays, or reports.The stimulating thinking process involved in many activities of the course was really enjoyable.
I still remember the "Gone fishing" slides and recently "The social atom" slides. It was interesting to see how Brad draw a connection between the book and communication principles. For the blog posts, I had put a lot of thoughts when I commented in other blogs. Also, it was educational to see how my classmates interpreted and communicated in response to a same question.

I want to thank Brad for giving us relaxing, relevant and insightful lectures. I appreciated that you have encouraged us to pursue our idea for the proposal when the Officer though it was not realistic. I am thankful for having fun and competent classmates. You guys have given me many constructive criticism, encouragement, and something to look up to. I learned plenty from your strength and weaknesses. Without you, my classmates and my tutor, I think I could not enjoy the whole course that much.

Self-reflection for the oral presentation

Firstly, I would like to thank for all the questions in the Q&A. It made me realize that there are a lot more to consider making this idea happen. For my group presentation, there are many areas for improvement.

I found the structure/outline of the presentation was not good enough. We used the same structure/outline as that of the proposal (of course with the survey information added). I felt that the sequence of information presented was logic; however, not cohesive. So, it reduced the persuasiveness of our proposal. I am not sure what we could have done differently though.

Also, we did rehearse together a few times. However, I felt that the transitions between presenters could be improved. As Michelle said, the take home messages were not clear during the presentation. Actually, our “take home” messages were put into the conclusion slide. I think we should have named the slide Take home messages instead of Conclusion, and the presenter should have emphasized that these are the take home messages. Could that work?

During the presentation, I think I was and looked nervous. My mind just went blank so I was not fluent at some pointsJ and I spoke too fast sometimes. Actually, I did not use the pointer effectively. I realized this when I saw how the Rocks used the pointer to direct the attention of the audience today. In the future, I could work on controlling my emotions, improving my language fluency, and paying more attention to the structure of the presentation.

This is the first time when I am a leader role in a group project. I think my group mates are generally good. However, we did have some miscommunications, different ways of working, and different expectations. For the future group projects, it is better to discuss about the expectations and working’s style of each member to reach common expectations and create mutual understandings

An intercultural observation

Buddhism practice in Thailand vs that in Viet Nam

I went for a backpack trip in Thailand with my sister 2 years ago. When I was walking down a street along a residential area in an early morning in Bangkok, I saw many monks walking around. Moreover, there was always a guy following each monk and carrying a big basket of heavy things. I was surprised because in Viet Nam, the monks are not known for being out of temples at this early hour, and I could not find any temples in the map around this residential area. “What they are up to at this time and this place? Shouldn’t they be at the temples?” I found the answer a few minutes later when I walked in a Thai food store. I saw there were bags of pre-packed cooked food at the food stalls. Surprisingly, people bought those bags of food mostly to offer to the monks walking by.

This is what was happening. Men and women walked toward the monks, gave the food offerings and graciously bowed until their heads touched the ground in front of the monks. The monk received food offerings and handed it to the guy whose main job was to carry the food. Then the monk spoke to that person. The monk seemed to give his blessings for the person.

I sat there, and observed the whole scene in silence. Actually I was shocked because in Viet Nam it is seen as “begging” if the monks walk around with bowls in their hands. Vietnamese usually ignore those monks unless they come to us and specially ask for money or food. It is definitely unusually to see people bowing in front of a monk to offer him food voluntarily. Usually, Buddhist believers would go to the temples to give their offers and donation.

However, apparently, in Thailand, that was the norm for many monks to walk around to receive food offerings. I heard from a friend that in Thailand, monks can only eat food that has been given to them, and they can't eat past noon. So if they don't get an offering in the morning, they have to go all day without eating.

Now, I want to explain why Vietnamese do not have such an offering practice as that in Thailand.

Buddhism is practiced widely in Thailand. In fact, 95% of Thais are Buddhist. Hence, I would argue that Thai society is a homogeneous religious environment; hence giving and receiving offerings are not only done in the temples. They can be easily seen in the streets outside of a temple as well.

In Vietnam, because of the diverse religious background and the large number of non-practising Buddhists, I would argue that the practice of offerings can only be done within the temples. If that is practiced outside of the temples, it could make believers of other religions misunderstand since believers of other religions do not understand the Buddhism purpose and rules.

Personal Statement

Dear friends,

I made a mistake for this blog since I did not read carefully the requirements of this week's blog post. I thought we are going to write a presonal statement to apply for a graduate program. I searched for schools and wrote one to apply for Department of Bioengineering, University of Columbia, as a master student. I am terribly sorry about my mistake. I will write another blog post about my biodata in the next few days.

Anyways, I post my personal statement here since I worked hard for it.

This is the website of the laboratory: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mechanical/mbl/


Personal Statement to University of Columbia, Department of Biomedical Engineering:

Since I was young, I have had a strong interest in science because it was always fascinating for me to read about new discoveries in science, and scientific theories to explain about nature, and the human body. In fact, the motivation for me to learn English was to read more science books. During high school, I was one of the top students in my math, chemistry and biology classes. Inspired by my biology teacher who encouraged her students to be biomedical researchers whose work could help to solve medical problems, I decided to pursue a career in Bioengineering.

Being an undergraduate student majoring in Bioengineering at the National University of Singapore has offered me tremendous opportunities to further explore many interesting aspects of bioengineering such as Biomaterials, Biomechanics, Tissue Engineering, and Imaging Technique. Among those topics, I have a strong interest in Biomechanics and I always want to study the mechanical properties of the human body by applying principles of biomechanics that I have acquired during the Biomechanics courses taken in NUS and University of Waterloo during my student exchange program.

In my vacation internship at Laboratory of Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, Zhejiang University, I worked on a project about the regeneration of cartilaginous tissue which gave me a good understanding of the biological properties of cartilage tissue. That was when I started to wonder about the biomechanical function of cartilaginous tissue. During my 4th year in NUS, I really want to get a better understanding of the biomechanical properties of cartilage, which is not possible since my school places more emphasis on other research areas. Hence, I hope to do my master degree in a school which can give me an opportunity to take advanced courses about cartilage tissues and to do research about the mechanical function of those tissues.

After I successfully obtain my master degree I can imagine myself as a biomedical engineer working for a biomedical company to design medical devices to treat and cure human diseases. My strong and broad background in bioengineering and passion for it would help me make a contribution to the field.

During my search for a suitable laboratory for my master degree, I found the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory in University of Columbia, working on my research field of interest. University of Columbia is a well-known university located in New York City, which is a very vibrant city that offers many cultural events. It would be an honor for me to live in such a beautiful city, and work hard to satisfy my curiosity in biomechanics in a school which can offer world-class research facilities.

Job Application Letter

September 2, 2009
Dr. Hongyan Wang
Laboratory of Neural Stem Cells
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Singapore

Dear Dr Hongyan Wang,

I am writing to introduce myself and express my interest in working at Laboratory of Neural Stem Cells at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School as a Research Assistant. My Professor, Micheal Raghunath from the Tissue Modulation Laboratory, has recommended the position as an excellent employment opportunity. I feel I am a good candidate for this position because, as mentioned in my resume, I have a strong background in Cellular Biology, research skills, good communication skills and I have a strong interest in neural stem cells research.

As a Bioengineering student doing an honors project at the National University of Singapore, I believe that I could produce outstanding research work in the field of neural stem cells as a research assistant.

First of all, I have gained a strong background in Cellular Biology through intensive courses about the latest knowledge in stem cell and cellular biology research in National University of Singapore and University of Waterloo, Canada. The acquired knowledge would be very essential for the research assistant position working on neural stem cells.

Moreover, through my summer internship at the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China, I have acquired key technical skills for stem cells research such as cell culture, microscope techniques and polymerase reaction chain (real time and reverse transcript). I believe that good technical skills are necessary to produce excellent research work

Also, I mastered how to do a systematical and critical review of the current and latest knowledge in a research field. I gained extensive knowledge about stem cells and research methodology to investigate the molecular mechanisms of differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells. These qualities would help me to thrive in an intensive research environment.

I am fluent in English and I have good writing skills in English. In addition, I have a strong interest in cellular biology and want to work to enhance human understanding. I would also like to devise new cures and treatments of neural diseases. Under your guidance, I look forward to learning more about the molecular mechanisms of self-renewal and differentiation processes in flies and mammals.

Thank you for considering my application.

I look forward to meeting with you to discuss.

Sincerely,

Do Thi Hai Van

29 Prince George’s Park
Blk29 Level 5 Room I
Singapore 118424
Phone: 83464338
Email: u0605620@gmail.com

Post #2: An Interpersonal Conflict Situation

Here is a situation which becomes more and more common in this globalized world:

Eight months ago, Saori began her four month student exchange program in North America. One guy in a school club asked her out. They went for several dates and decided to get more serious.

Still in North America, Saori was excited to tell her parents about her relationship. Her mother’s first reaction was “Do not fraternize with those foreign boys”. Her mother was worried because the values and ideals about relationships in their two cultures are different, and sometimes disagree. Her dad did not want to disappoint her; he said “Just hang out with him, do not go further. I do not want to have a son in law who is a foreigner. Find a man who comes from our country.”

Saori was so frustrated because her parents did not care to know about her boyfriend’s personality. They wanted her to end the relationship immediately just because he is a “foreigner”. Saori thought that her parents should be more open minded.

Her parents thought that they would lose their daughter if she is serious and decides to marry the guy. By conservative Asian tradition, normally a girl would have to live with her husband's family. Saori attends a university which is far away from her hometown. Her parents want her to move back to live with them after she graduates. It is scary for the parents to think of the scenario where they have to live alone in their senior years when their daughter is on another continent. By no means would her parents let it happen.

Both sides were angry, stubborn and frustrated; they would argue about the relationship whenever it was mentioned.

How could they reach an agreement?

Post #1: Why professional communication is important to you?

One recent incident which has made me appreciate the importance of effective communication was just few months ago. "Why do you come home so late" I asked my roommate when she finally got home at midnight. I was concerned about her safety because we were living in a not-so-safe community in Hangzhou back then. To my surprise, my roommate seemed to be upset. "I do not want to talk about it. I want to keep my privacy" she answered reluctantly. I was shocked because it looked like she misunderstood my question. However, it was late so we both went to bed. The day after, I still wondered about why she reacted in such a negative way, and finally I talked to my boyfriend. He suggested that the question could be perceived as a nosy question, and reminded me since English is not my first language, I should carefully phrase my ideas so that it would reflect exactly what I intend to say. From then on, I determined to strengthen my communication skills.

Indeed, with powerful communication skills, leaders could motivate a whole team or a nation to achieve great goals, scientists and engineers could exchange their ideas and knowledge to accelerate the technological development, and people could build strong, long lasting and trusting relationships. In a nutshell, effective communication is inevitable.