Lucinda Peng 2015 Newsletter

Parents Newsletter 2020

For sure, 2020 was a terrible year for the whole world. Since the covid-19 pandemic started, everything has changed dramatically, and our family’s big travel plans and vacations were canceled. For me, the biggest loss was the sudden passing of my dad at the age of 97 in September. Despite all the challenges, I am glad that my family was positive and cautious, but tried to live as much normal life as possible. It was, indeed, another memorable year.For sure, 2020 was a terrible year for the whole world. Since the covid-19 pandemic started, everything has changed dramatically, and our family’s big travel plans and vacations were canceled. For me, the biggest loss was the sudden passing of my dad at the age of 97 in September. Despite all the challenges, I am glad that my family was positive and cautious, but tried to live as much normal life as possible. It was, indeed, another memorable year.

This year was better than last in terms of academics, as I felt like I was really on top of all of my classes, especially this past semester. I took Physiological Systems, Physics with lab, English, Minds and Brains in America, and Probability and Statistics. Physiological systems was probably my favorite among all of them, though during finals period, I was cursing my choice of classes, that was just due to the vast amount information we needed to remember. This class has thoroughly impacted my train of thought, as I now cannot eat something without thinking about how fats are digested, and the other day when I ran in the overly humid Florida air and felt like I couldn’t breathe, all I thought about was if the humidity caused enough of a drop in PO2 (partial pressure of oxygen) to make me diffusion-limited rather than perfusion-limited (physio friends – you’re welcome). Even though I spent a lot of time in New Haven, I had a lot of fun there, hanging out with friends, going to New York City, and spending time with family in the New England area. After so much time away from home, I’ve started to appreciate the little things – having a washing machine I don’t pay for, home-cooked meals, a car, even doing the dishes is less of a chore than before. It’s been a year of novelties, both at school and home.

Acadia National Park

Freshman Dance (Screw)

Joey’s Wings

Most of you know from last year’s letter that I had a close family friend, Joey Xu, who passed away from a rare pediatric kidney cancer a little over a year ago. What I did not get to share then, was his mother Kathy’s incredible strength. She has turned her grief into something productive – starting Joey’s Wings, a 501c nonprofit organization, which she asked me to be on the board of directors for. In December 2014, we began planning a small 5K run in memory of Joey. It was the biggest event that I had ever planned, so it was a little intimidating at first. We had to plan for all of the big things: the route, how much food we had, getting volunteers, but in the end I was more worried about the little things: where each volunteer would stand to direct runners, which electrical outlets were working, recording the time of each runner, having enough origami cranes for each runner, confronting my fear of public speech. But we did it, and I owe it to the support of my family, friends, and the whole community. Thanks for helping me with making volunteer t-shirts, timing the runners, marking the course, folding cranes, donating and coming out to the run! I had no idea how many people to expect, but initially hoped for at least 200, and enough company donations to offset the costs of the run. Instead, we had almost 500 register for the race, running out of shirts for those with on-site registration, and raised $22,480. It was a lot of work planning for the event, made even harder by the fact that I was in New Haven and Kathy was in Gainesville, but we managed to pull it off, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Setting up for the race

Race Day!

Couldn't have done it without them <3

Thanks for volunteering and racing!

Our following event was the Joey's Wings Benefit Gala, which my mom and her friends were able to attend. Through Kathy and her friend Kelly’s hard work and meticulous planning, it was a great night. Through generous donations and our events, Joey’s Wings has raised $53,000. We are now using that money to start the Joey Xu Fund, a patient registry and tissue bank for the type of cancer Joey had, at John Hopkins with Dr. Argani. We’re now planning for our second annual 5K, and though I will not be able to come back for the run because I won’t be on spring break yet, I hope any of you in town on March 5, 2016 will go in place of me! We couldn’t do it without all of your ongoing support. <3

Mom with Kathy!

Mom's support team!

Summer in New Haven

This summer I decided to stay in New Haven to continue doing research in the Hattangadi lab. My project involved looking at differences in a specific protein, Hipk2, in acute monocytic leukemia (AML) and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Last year, when we ran Western blots to separate the protein of each cell type based on size of the protein, we found that AML cells have significantly less Hipk2 than CML, so this year I ran PCRs (a reaction to amplify the sequence I’m looking for) in hopes of sequencing the Hipk2 coding portion of AML and CML cells. While I am still very interested in the cancer world, I realized that this type of research, working with cells instead of patients, was not for me. I decided that I could still stay involved through Joey’s Wings, and go back to biomechanics research. Though I had made up my mind, it was so hard to let the lab go. I got to know the lab much better, as I was working full-time in the lab, rather than just stopping in for a few hours before or after class. We had a lab party hosted by a former Gainesvillian who had bought a house on the beach, so we played volleyball, went kayaking, and played ping-pong on the back patio. Aside from lab parties, my friends and I also worked out, made dinner and desserts, and tried out some of New Haven’s amazing restaurants together. We took a few trips to NYC, eating our way through Chinatown, walking around Central Park, and rushing Broadway shows. My first was a last minute decision, so my friends and I got tickets 15 minutes before the show, deciding on Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The second was more planned, and we got to see Phantom of the Opera, which I am still absolutely in love with. After it ended, I went to the front to see the pit orchestra finishing up the last song, and reminisced playing excerpts from Phantom in youth orchestra.

A new sushi place opened up near campus, boasting decent all-you-can-eat sushi, so my friends and I took advantage of this, skipping lunch so we could stuff an extra roll or so during dinner. My summer roommate, Christine, and I went one day, and stuffed ourselves so much that we could barely walk home. Once we got back, we proceeded to take a 4 hour nap, and could still barely eat the next day, but we knew that someday (in the far future) we wanted to go back for more.

Lucinda at lab

Lucinda and her friends at New York!

Boston

Only when I finally left New Haven did it feel like summer actually began. My freedom began the day before Independence Day, just before we walked the Freedom Trail in Boston. We also went to Cape Cod, the Boston Harbor Islands, Boston Public Gardens, Chinatown, and got to see the fireworks from the banks of the Charles River. While we were there, I got also to see some friends who were staying in Boston for the summer.

For the 4th of July, we walked the Freedom Trail, and had a nice dinner with Zhu Yi, my dad’s former student, before going to watch the fireworks. I walked part of the Freedom Trail last time I went to Boston with Ye Zi Jiejie and her friends, so this time I was the one who knew the most about the trail and different stops along the way. We passed the “only pub where you can have a cold Sam Adams in front of a cold Sam Adams,” stopped by Boston Commons, and had a late lunch at Quincy Market. Later, my dad’s former student, Zhu Yi showed us around Harvard Square, and took us out to a really nice seafood restaurant before walking to the fireworks viewing area along the Charles River.

July 4th on the Charlers River

Boston Harbor

Boston Public Garden

4th of July on the Freedom Trail

Boston seems to be the city for meeting friends over great meals, as I was able to see my high school and college friends who were working in Boston for the summer, and my mom met up with some of her high school friends. I grabbed meals with Allie and Alvaro, happy to catch up after our first year of college even though we were all away from home, and Tony showed me around the Google office, which was filled with lots of fun and relaxing places. We also got to tour Kevin’s office after a delicious dinner in a small Chinese restaurant. This trip, I wasn’t the only one who got to see friends though. Through WeChat (the Chinese version of Facebook), my mom and some of her friends realized they were all in the Boston area, so the three families had an impromptu reunion, catching up over a delicious dinner in Chinatown. After meeting my mom’s friends, it only seemed fair that I also meet my dad’s, so I went to a reception for my dad’s conference, meeting many of his friends, and realizing how famous he is in his field.

"working" at Kevin's office

Lucinda with Dad's friends at the conference

We took a day trip to Cape Cod to go whale watching. I loved standing on the side of the boat to feel the wind running through my hair. We were lucky enough to see a calf swimming with its mother, and many other solitary whales. The calf had to come up for air more frequently, and was very playful, so we got to see it come up and down quite a few times, but since they are so big, the most you see is part of their back and sometimes their tail when they flick it upwards. Always the photographer, my mom took hundreds of pictures trying to get the perfect shot.

Whale Watching at Cape Cod

Mom and Lucinda at Cope Cod

Cape Cod!

On the whale watching boat

Another day was spent on the Boston Harbor Islands, where we hiked up a small hill, and explored a fort. Spectacle Island used to be two islands, but was reconstructed with dirt and trash into one island, the main island for swimming and hiking. Yet despite its foundation, Spectacle Island was very pretty, and we had lots of fun hiking around on it.

Boston Harbor Spectacle Island

Boston Harbor Fort

Pretty as the flowers

Boston Harbor Islands

Acadia

After nearly a week in Boston, we drove up to Acadia, a beautiful national park in Bar Harbor, Maine. It was so refreshing to get out of the city, and I was ecstatic to be surrounded by trees, ocean, and mountains. Acadia is literally perfect – it has beach (a freezing cold one, just right for me), cliffs, and plenty of mountains to climb. We hiked up and down Cadillac Mountain one day, not expecting the day to be as hot or dry as it turned out to be… they don’t call Acadia “Mt. Desert Island” for nothing! But even though we were worrying about our water supply, the view was breathtaking. There were lakes and ocean around Cadillac Mountain, making for a perfect “shan-shui” blend that Chinese art loves so much. Hiking the mountain provided me with much needed exercise, but even so, my body appreciated the upward climb much more than the pounding my joints took on the way down. We made it down in time to drive back up Cadillac to catch the sunset.

Resting at half way up Penobscot Mountain

Hiking Cadillac Mountain

Very long hike up Penobscot Mountain

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain

Despite being called Mt. Desert Island, Acadia has many ponds and lakes, and even a wetland area on the drive there from town. My two favorite water sources were polar opposites. One was the pristine, famous Jordan Pond, which is clean enough that it is used as a source for drinking water. The water was so clear and still that it created perfect reflections. We saw lots of wildlife as we walked around the pond. The deer didn’t seem to be scared of anyone, calmly eating its way down the shore, getting closer and closer to us. Fat little chipmunks scurried about, chasing each other up and down trees. They only disappeared when the tree cover gave way to bare rock. Lucky for us, that meant that most of the blueberries were able to ripen without many animals picking them before we did! My mom and I collected (in our stomachs) handful after handful of the sweet, slightly tart berries. One of the side trails around Jordan Pond led to Bubble Rock, a huge rock that looks as if it was about to fall down the mountainside. Of course, despite the many people trying to push it down, it luckily doesn’t move an inch.

Wildlife around Jordan Pond

Hiking up Beehive Mountain

The gorgeous Jordan Pond

Classic Bubble Rock picture

My other favorite lake was tiny in comparison, but it felt amazing after our hike through the heat all morning. Others joined us in the lake, including an adorable doggie who swam all the way across and back. Swimming in the lake reminded me of my backpacking trip last year when we splashed around in a waterfall after a few days of no showering, feeling very refreshed, and slightly less muddy afterwards. The hike to get to this lake was a bit more strenuous than the backpacking trip, and as the slope gave way to steep steps, Naomi started chanting “I love stairs, I love stairs, I LOVE stairs” over and over. Initially relieved when that part was over, we realized that the next part of the trail was extremely narrow, on the edge of a cliff with steep switchbacks. Always the adventurous family, we had lots of fun finishing this portion of the climb. After the hard trails, we decided to go walk along some of the famous carriage roads around the park.

Climbing up the mountain

Stream under the Carriage Road Bridge

The most interesting mountain we climbed was the Beehive. The trail started out normal enough, not very steep, and then we got to the portion where we had to rely on the iron rungs jutting out from the side of the mountain to climb. Ignoring the height of the drop and the width of the path, it wasn’t actually very hard or scary, but it was super foggy that day, making the difficult trail even more mysterious. Progress was slow, as people were extra careful about their footing, but eventually we made it to the top. There, we looked around, and realized that even though the ocean was just across the street from the mountain, we could just barely make it out. As the fog cleared, we made our way back to Jordan Pond and more trails around there. But the fog started to roll back in just after we summited the mountain, so we headed to the beach to cool off in the icy cold waters. While we rested on the rocks, a bird decided that it liked watching a human squawk and run away from it, so of course its target was Naomi. That night we went into downtown Bar Harbor for a nice dinner and ice cream rather than catching another sunset.

Summited Beehive Mountain!

Tough Climb!!

Watch out... bird attack coming

En route to Bubble Rock

We went back to the coast for our last half day there, exploring Thunder Hole, Otter Cliffs, and the wetlands. Thunder Hole is a little inlet whose bottom portion had been cut out by the waves, so as high tide comes in, the waves crashing into the larger cavity below splash up through the narrow upper portion make a loud thunder-like sound. We came too late for the big splashes, so we continued on to Otter Cliffs. There, we climbed down the rocks and had a picnic on the cliffs. The rain started picking up, cutting our picnic short. On our way out, we stopped by the wetland area and Portland, Maine to see the famous picturesque lighthouse.

Thunder Hole

Rocky Shore

At Acadia Wetland

Portland, Maine Lighthouse

New York City

Our last stop of the trip was NYC, where I got to show my family around Central Park, Times Square, Chinatown, and East Village. I got to explore some new places too though. We went to the Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural History, and the 9/11 memorial. We also got to see Wicked, which was AMAZING!

Upon arrival in NYC, my family and I started off the trip right by going to Chinatown for dim sum, and then headed up to Central Park and Times Square. In Central Park, we found a gorgeous little garden filled with bright flowers. Continuing our walk around the park, we passed lots of people preparing for the next day’s New York Triathlon. I was so jealous of them! It would be amazing to get to race in the park. Though now that I’m back to running (kind of) I can train for half and eventually full Ironman triathlons! We walked through Central Park to Times Square, stopping by the many stores to shop. Even after midnight, this city never sleeps.

The girls in Central Park

Central Park

Lake in Central Park

Shakespeare Garden in Central Park

TImes Square at night

Wicked was even better than I expected! I had seen Phantom of the Opera with my friends, so I had high expectations, but Wicked surpassed them. Just like with Phantom, I had played excerpts from Wicked in youth orchestra (yay for ACYO) and Naomi and I had played the Wicked soundtrack on repeat on the way to NYC, so excited to see and hear it in person. I still can’t decide if I liked Phantom or Wicked better, but needless to say, I’ll be back for more Broadway sooner or later.

Wicked!!!!

Museum of Natural History

After my many NYC trips, I finally went to the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 memorial, and Wall Street. The 9/11 memorial is a big square waterfall, marking the bases of the two original twin towers. Surrounding it are the new world trade centers and the transportation hub that structurally reminds me of the Milwaukee Art Museum. We next went to the Statue of Liberty, which was crowded with tourists like ourselves, but it was really cool to see the skyline of NYC from afar and the statue up close. On the book she’s holding, the date reads July IV, for July 4th, but because of how the light hit the V, Naomi and I somehow read it as July 17, so we were a little confused, but excited because we visited on July 17th, so it had to be symbolic of something right?

Wall Street Bull

9/11 Memorial

Statue of Liberty

Skyline of NYC

Hope to come back soon!

Back to Gainesville, Back to Biomechanics

When I came back to Gainesville for the remaining month of summer, I decided that a year without biomechanics was a year too long, so I went back to Dr. Hass’s lab, where I did my first running project. Their big project was looking at how DBS (deep brain stimulation) in a new region of the brain affects Parkinson’s patients’ motor control. I was allowed to help with data collection, as well as data processing, I went to lab almost every day because I truly enjoyed it. Side note advertisement for the lab: they’re looking for healthy adults over 65 to volunteer for a new study, if you’re near UF and want to help out, let me know!

Anyways, when I went back to Yale, I joined the Biomechanics and Control lab under Dr. Venkadesan, and am loving it. My project is still in its early stages, but I will be collecting data on Bharatanatyam dance hand movements, trying to prove that human can use all 25 degrees of freedom independently in the hand. I began by using GraspIt! a program that allows me to model a hand posture, but in order to verify its validity, and compare real dancers to paintings and sculptures that are the ideal hand posture, we are now using Vicon as well. We’ve already run into some problems, but solving them is just part of research, right?

School Activities

This year, I decided to do a couple more extracurriculars at school, writing for the Yale Scientific Magazine and creating healthyU. Though I write this newsletter every year, I'm not usually the biggest fan of writing, but I decided to push my boundaries a bit and wrote a short article for YSM. (If you really want to read it, here it is). Over the summer, some of my fellow healthy friends and I decided to start a club to promote health in the Yale community. We host “healthshops” (healthy workshops) where we work out or cook/bake together, and co-hosted a taste testing event with Spoon, asking people to judge whether my healthy baking (black bean brownies and zucchini bread) matched up with store bought sweets.

HealthyU team

Pumpkin picking with Tianna

Friends

Though finals week made Yale seem like it was all work and no play, it’s time to revisit some less stressful times… spring fling, The Game, East Rock trips, and snow days! While it's great making new friends, it's keeping the old ones that really counts. Coming home this summer, I got to go to the lake with Emma and Anneliese as usual, and dragged Alicia to Ichetucknee Springs the day after she got home! Even though keeping in contact during the school year is tough, we pick up right where we left off when reunited.

Last year, I complained of not getting any snow before winter break, which happened yet again this year, except this year was worse, with 60 degree weather when I left! I’m hoping for last year’s pattern to repeat though, because upon return from winter break (and writing last year’s letter), Yale got plenty of snow, and 1.5 snow days! My friends and I took the blizzard warning as an excuse to go up East Rock, because YOLO… just kidding. The storm turned towards Boston, leaving New Haven as safe as it can be, so we had a blast walking up, trudging through the snow, and coming back slightly frozen. The snow melted just in time for Spring Fling, where St. Lucia, Klingande, and Jessie J (let’s pretend I know the people I just listed) played at Yale. Despite not recognizing any songs besides Jessie J’s, I had a blast, running around with my friends, screaming and kind of dancing all night long.

Shenanigans at the Lake

Snow Day on East Rock!

Ichetucknee with Alicia

Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival

Despite living in Milwaukee (Packer country) and Gainesville (who are the Gators again?), The Game (Harvard vs. Yale) this year was my first football game, because last year, I was on the plane back to Florida for Thanksgiving break during The Game (Harvard vs. Yale), Luckily I remembered to book my ticket for Sunday, staying to watch us get crushed by Harvard… At least The Game gave me a chance to see Gainesville friends, and Yale friends who graduated last year. Even though this was my first football game, I was able to explain what was going on because of where I’ve lived and 8th grade “football” club (actually running club, but we “cross-trained” by playing football so much, this is a more appropriate name). Even so, my friends didn’t mind their lack of football knowledge, screaming “Do the thing” while I screamed “RUN” when we had the ball.

Stayed til (almost) the end <3

The Game!

Training for Triathlon

I tried to continue my monthly college race series from last year, where I did at least one race a month, but unfortunately, my injury pattern decided to follow me to college, and instead of heading to nationals for triathlon, I was stuck in a boot with a second metatarsal stress fracture. The boot didn’t come off until mid-July, when I was about to go on my family vacation. I started running (I promise I took it easy! I didn’t even get past half a mile!) but my foot began to bother me again, and I was forced to stop, indefinitely, according to my physical therapist. That drove me crazy, because as any true runner knows, swimming is NOT a good enough substitute. I only swim when I can run, because then I’m swimming for the purpose of training for triathlons. Now that I’m somewhat back in the game, I want to try to work up to a half-ironman sometime before I graduate. I got a new bike to keep me sane without running, and I love to ride around Connecticut, up East Rock for hill repeats, and along the Canal Trail to Sleeping Giant and beyond. I tried to bike 50 miles one day, but forgot that I’d need to bring food for the ride, and ended about 7 miles short. But hey, it was a blast and I will never forgot for next time.

Winter Wonderland 5 miler

First ride with my new baby <3

Wisconsin trip

Over fall break, I decided to go to Wisconsin to visit Aleksandra, my BFF (literally forever… we met in daycare, age 1 ish). It had been years since my last trip, and since she was headed to college in the spring after her year abroad in Germany, we decided we needed to meet up before she left. Coming back to Glendale reminds me of my childhood; back to the days we begged for more sleepovers, fighting our sisters for computer rights, Ramen for lunch while watching Shaolin Showdown… I could go on forever. I have kept up with her family through social media, but it was still a surprise to personally see that everyone had grown up! The days flew by, filled with fun, games and constant smiles. We went to Lake Michigan, a trampoline park, the rock climbing gym, a pumpkin carving party, and visited my favorite gym teacher Ms. Timmerman at my middle school. She amazingly remembered everyone in our grade, naming the different dances we did for a winter show in elementary school.

Lake Michigan was cold as ever, but it brought back memories of summer days, running in and out of the water, building sand castles, digging to find the clay layer. I remembered when first moved to Florida, my friends and I went to St. Augustine, where my friends asked if it was my first time at the beach. I was so confused, and told them that my old house was only a 15 minute drive from the beach, much better than the 1.5 hour drive we were on. They looked at me incredulously, and said they thought that Wisconsin was in the Midwest, nowhere near an ocean. I laughed, thinking they must’ve just forgotten that the Great Lakes existed. The walk along the beach was peaceful; the wind whipped around us, the waves crashed on the rocks, spraying water high into the air, but our spirits were higher than the waves.

At the pumpkin carving party, people were competing for three prizes: best, worst, and most interesting, as judged by people walking past the house. The food and company were amazing, and I had lots of fun carving my pumpkin. Natalya got the worst pumpkin prize, simply carving “Donald Trump” on her pumpkin. Aleksandra and I cracked up over the little boy who wandered over to Natalya’s pumpkin and said “Mommy, this one scares me.”On my last full day there, my friends Lizzie and Joanie went out for brunch, visited my old house, and played on the playgrounds of my elementary school, reminiscing about the good old days. Lizzie picked me up from Aleksandra’s house, and though she told me she was coming, I still couldn’t believe that she was driving! We had breakfast at Maxfield’s (so many new places since I left!) and then went to see my old house and Parkway, our old elementary school. Afterwards, Joanie took me back to her house, giving me a chance to catch up with her mom. I hadn’t seen her since we moved to Florida (almost a decade ago!) but she still recognized me, and was practically as happy as my own parents when I told her how school was going.

Lake Michigan Beach Day!

Rock Climbing with Aleksandra :)

Love you all <3

Brunch with Lizzie and Joanie!

Thanksgiving Vacation

This year, my dad wasn’t able to come home for Thanksgiving (his Chinese meetings don’t understand what family time means), but that just means we had some girl time when I came home. We went to La Chua trail with Anneliese to see the gators and the sunset, and Emma got out of class early enough to make it over for dinner! I got to visit Dr. Hass’s lab, though everyone but Jaimie had left for break already. Then, my mom went back to China for my grandpa’s 93rd birthday, but since it falls so close to Thanksgiving, she had to leave Thanksgiving Day to maximize time at home and still make it to China in time. So Naomi and I spent the day with friends, first going to the lake to spend time with Emma and Anneliese, and then I went to the Rollins’ and Naomi went to the Naranjo’s house for the evening before we hit up the mall for Black Friday shopping. My dad’s student sent me to the airport to go back up to Yale, but since the Tampa airport is so close to the beach, and there was only traffic going towards Gainesville for the UF vs FSU game, we were able to squeeze in lunch and a 15 minute stop by the beach before my flight.

Sunset on La Chua Trail

Awkward point at the gator

Mom and Dad’s Activities

Mom keeps busy while I’m away at school, but whenever I want to talk, she always makes time to call. But between calls, she’s still volunteering at Eastside and with the youth orchestra (ACYO), playing tennis, moving up to the 3.5 team now! She loves taking pictures – especially of all the flowers in our backyard, as I am constantly reminded of through our family texts. This year, she also helped a lot with Joey’s Wings, measuring and marking the course for Joey’s Run, taking lots of pictures, helping with fundraising and spreading the word. I couldn’t have done it without her <3 This year she made a trip on her own, going back to China for my grandpa’s 93rd birthday. While in China, she got to go to Yichang to see her best friend from college and got a chance to tour the surrounding area, including the Three Gorges Dam, and also got to meet up with some old friends from college and high school in Zhengzhou. On the way home, she stopped by Portland, Oregon to see Grandpa Ted and Grandma Ellie and Ningshen Zhou.

Grandpa's 93rd birthday

Family gathering

Mom and her siblings

Three Gorges Dam Park

Mom at XiLing Xia

Mom with Grandpa Ted and Grandma Ellie

Dad spent a lot of time in China this year, traveling and working on his projects. This year he also went to India, Tibet, and Portland. In Portland he got to see his PhD advisor Ken Dueker, and Grandpa Ted and Grandma Ellie. While in China he also went home to see his mom and family in Chaling. I got to learn more about his research through my English class, Representing Climate Change. He suggested a lot of sources for my research paper on the health effects of climate change and air pollution in China, and gave me some of his (about to be published) papers! They use his unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or as my friends point out, drones) to collect data about the concentrations of different substances in the air, including SO2, NO2, and particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter. These substances have varying detrimental health effects. He has been getting tons of interviews about these projects, as the air quality in China is getting worse and worse. He even made it on national television the day before he came back for winter break! (If you want to watch it, here is a link: English or 中文. Here is a report: English or 中文)

Dad at Potala Palace in Tibet

Dad in India

Dad with colleagues in Tibet

Dad and Grandma in Chaling

Winter Break at last!

I didn’t finish finals until Dec 21st this year, making me one of the last back of all my friends. When I came home, my family went to Sweetwater Wetlands Park, and I got to hang out with friends. My mom, dad and I went to Sweetwater got to see birds and baby gators, staying until the park closed to enjoy the sunset. On Christmas Eve, my family and some family friends went out for lunch and bowling to celebrate my mom’s friend’s birthday! And we made it to the beach on the ridiculously warm Christmas Day, running on the sand and swimming in the warm waters. My friends planned a series of hangouts (not Google hangouts finally!) where we made pizza, went to karaoke, and set off fireworks to celebrate 2016.