Ubc Personal Statement

Born and raised in a small city in the northeast of China, I did not experience much diversity in my life till I moved abroad for my PhD study. I joined University of British Columbia, Vancouver for my PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2004. UBC is home to a colorful mosaic of cultures, beliefs, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages and appearances. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and make friends with different cultural backgrounds. However, I did experience prejudice as a non-native English speaker even though in most times they were not intentional. I also had a few awkward moments of being discriminatory when it was pointed out by others because of my lacking of understanding. Encouraged by my supervisor,
an extremely successful female faculty in mechanical engineering, I attended several workshops on campus to learn how to deal with prejudice, prevent discrimination, and advance diversity by learning about others, thinking about my words and actions, and speaking out upon discrimination. I have learned to be tolerant of others and respect the view of all people regardless of nationality, race, gender, health condition, etc. I have learned that working with a group of diverse individuals is very helpful for the group and the individual.

As a foreign student I benefitted considerably from the open and creative environment, I was motivated to devote efforts to advance diversity in my class when I worked as a TA for Industrial Fluid Dynamics.
For a group of students from different education backgrounds, I encouraged all the students to ask questions, present their own comments, and freely respond to my questions. During these activities, I made a conscious effort to let all the students feel comfortable in articulating their opinions and actively engaging in discussions. From such efforts, I understood the specific challenges faced by different students. This really improved my teaching effectiveness and helped me quickly identify the needs from different students. I also found that each student brings his/her own perspective to the class, and that the group as a whole benefits from the
diversity.

I will continue and expand these inclusion efforts in the future, in my research, teaching, and broadly in the community.
As a faculty member, I will devote my time and effort to advance diversity in engineering education. As an advisor, I will work to recruit graduate students who are under-presented including women and other minority groups into my research team. As an instructor, I will fully appreciate the specific challenges faced by students from different educational backgrounds. I will make a conscious effort to pay attention to the needs of students from different backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented minority groups/families to make sure that all students will keep up with the class progress. I will try my best to build a diverse working environment that provides all students with an equal opportunity for academic
success.