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Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Dr. Ying Sun. Dr. Sun is a first-gen, Asian American postdoctoral scholar. She believes people need to see the whole individual to be a good ally. First gens that come from low-income families – they are stressed out about finances; they are intimately tied to their families and communities. Understanding the individual is just as important as putting the systems in place to support each other.
Passionate about leadership, fundraising, communication, project management, and team building. With 11+ years of experience in biological research. Ying is a first-generation college student, and now postdoc, who immigrated to the US from rural China when she was young. She grew up in Las Vegas, NV where her parents worked as casino dealers. After high school, she attended UC San Diego to obtain a BS in Biochemistry, Cell Biology. While at UCSD, Ying was a part of the McNair Scholars program which supports students interested in obtaining a PhD. She worked on circadian rhythm in plants in the lab of Steve Kay and became interested in transcription and gene regulation. Previously, she was a graduate student in the lab of José Dinneny at Stanford University. Her project aimed to understand how some plants are more stress-tolerant than others. In her research, she analyzes the genomes of plants that live in extreme environments and utilizes bioinformatics tools to connect genotype to phenotype. Currently, Dr. Ying Sun is a postdoctoral scholar at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her career goal is to be a faculty member and to work at the intersection between molecular biology, functional genomics, and evolutionary genomics. In her spare time, Ying enjoys volunteering, baking, playing with animals, dancing, any outdoor activity, ice skating, and watching TV! She believes in mentorship and advocates for inclusion, equity, diversifying academia and solidarity. She hopes to promote the mindset of having gratitude, respect, and love toward one another in academia.
Dr. Sun can be found on LinkedIn.
Read the transcript here.