Striving for Better

Striving for Better If you were a petroleum engineering student at ULL, you could find a unique figure. That’s Bitao Lai, a very young assistant professor while most of the other petroleum engineering instructors in ULL are elder. Bitao Lai is from China, and she is about 30 years old. However, she has worked for ULL as an assistant professor for almost two years. When you get to her office, which is a compact room, the first impression is tidiness. Two shelves are erected near the wall and face with each other. A desk locates between them. Books, documents, and student homework are classified and placed in the right place. Bitao Lai usually sits on the chair behind the desk and works for her assignment. She is a typical Chinese with black and straight hair. Because she spends too much time on computer, she wears a thick myopia glasses. She likes to wear in warm color, which makes her more active. Before going to America, Bitao Lai was an exceptional graduate student in a Chinese university. She followed her boss to do a research with some American professors at her last year of graduation school. “I thought that could be an opportunity for me to pursuit PHD at America. First I desired to know and learn a totally different culture,” she laughed, “but the more important thing is that I was deeply attracted by the United States, which is the most powerful and richest country in the world. I knew I had to be active to catch the opportunity or it would go away.” Then she tried to show up her ability in that project. She not only thought of some innovatory ideas but also made a feasible plan for them. Moreover, she undertook much more work and finished it on time. Fortunately, she impressed these professors with her efforts. One of the professors appreciated her capability and recommended her to School Mines of CO. However, the American life was not so beautiful in imaginary at first. When Bitao Lai came to America, the first problem is language. “At