Long overdue, but coming soon!
After winter quarter finals.
E
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvard. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
2012 UCLA Dental School White Coat Ceremony
Hey guys!
I know I haven't posted in a while, but after my whirlwind 3 month tour of Asia with many many friends and family along the way (in addition to an amazing teaching stint in China), I'm finally back stateside!
Also, as many of you already know, I've decided to return to the West Coast for dental school at UCLA!! My undergrad experience at Harvard was absolutely incredible, and I'm so grateful to bring everything that I've learned and gained these past years to a new place with new people.
Anyways (drumroll) .... TODAY was the 2012 UCLA White Coat Ceremony! (pics below)
Our class size is exactly 88 students, and although it's only been one day, I've already met some really talented and inspirational people. Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly?) there are a number of familiar faces in the crowd - people who I've met at various functions over the past year including various interviews, conferences, and the like. The world is SO small! And it gets smaller and smaller everyday.
Speaking of which, this summer I literally bumped into college friends on the streets and subways of Bangkok, Taipei, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong without even knowing that they would be in the country! Expectedly, crazy reunions ensued. The same things also happened in London and at Oxford just over a year ago!
Cheers to serendipity, good times, and luck - especially in dental school!
Here's to the next 4 years!
E
(click to zoom!)
I know I haven't posted in a while, but after my whirlwind 3 month tour of Asia with many many friends and family along the way (in addition to an amazing teaching stint in China), I'm finally back stateside!
Also, as many of you already know, I've decided to return to the West Coast for dental school at UCLA!! My undergrad experience at Harvard was absolutely incredible, and I'm so grateful to bring everything that I've learned and gained these past years to a new place with new people.
Anyways (drumroll) .... TODAY was the 2012 UCLA White Coat Ceremony! (pics below)
Our class size is exactly 88 students, and although it's only been one day, I've already met some really talented and inspirational people. Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly?) there are a number of familiar faces in the crowd - people who I've met at various functions over the past year including various interviews, conferences, and the like. The world is SO small! And it gets smaller and smaller everyday.
Speaking of which, this summer I literally bumped into college friends on the streets and subways of Bangkok, Taipei, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong without even knowing that they would be in the country! Expectedly, crazy reunions ensued. The same things also happened in London and at Oxford just over a year ago!
Cheers to serendipity, good times, and luck - especially in dental school!
Here's to the next 4 years!
E
(click to zoom!)
 |
| Finally!! |
 |
| About half of the UCLA School of Dentistry Class of 2016 |
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Pre-Dental Society Updates
Great news: the website for the pre-dental society is almost finished - it will be up and running soon!
As a brief preview, here is the bio I will be putting up on the website. I've always been asked a lot why a career in dentistry and not say, medicine (or finance, consulting). The answer and story that comes with it is long, but I'll be sure to share it all with you sometime in the future. I promise!
But for now, here's the bio:
Eric Chen
Class of 2012 | Molecular and Cellular Biology
My belief in the commitment to the best self and the common good saw tremendous alignment with my passion for dentistry. The creation of a patient's best self through oral health and confidence, and the commitment to the greater community from a public health perspective - these are my visions in dentistry. Outside of the classroom I serve as President and former concertmaster of the Mozart Society Orchestra, and volunteer heavily with the Harvard College Red Cross. I'm an avid swimmer and water polo player, I love the beach, and I also write a blog on all things teeth!
And no the last line was NOT a shameless plug for my blog ... otherwise I would have included a link! :)
In other news, we're currently in the midst of organizing our 2011 Boston Pre-Dental Conference, to be held on campus in Cambridge! Details coming soon!
Eric
As a brief preview, here is the bio I will be putting up on the website. I've always been asked a lot why a career in dentistry and not say, medicine (or finance, consulting). The answer and story that comes with it is long, but I'll be sure to share it all with you sometime in the future. I promise!
But for now, here's the bio:
Eric Chen
Class of 2012 | Molecular and Cellular Biology
My belief in the commitment to the best self and the common good saw tremendous alignment with my passion for dentistry. The creation of a patient's best self through oral health and confidence, and the commitment to the greater community from a public health perspective - these are my visions in dentistry. Outside of the classroom I serve as President and former concertmaster of the Mozart Society Orchestra, and volunteer heavily with the Harvard College Red Cross. I'm an avid swimmer and water polo player, I love the beach, and I also write a blog on all things teeth!
And no the last line was NOT a shameless plug for my blog ... otherwise I would have included a link! :)
In other news, we're currently in the midst of organizing our 2011 Boston Pre-Dental Conference, to be held on campus in Cambridge! Details coming soon!
Eric
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Elasticity
So the nerd in me is taking a class this semester called Physical Sciences 2: Mechanics, Elasticity, Fluids, and Diffusion (also known as PS 2), or basically the first semester of a year of physics!
Anyways, today's lecture was on elasticity. I can summarize ninety minutes of lecture (beginning at 9:30am ... which is quite early on my schedule) and a notebook of equations for you by saying that all solids essentially obey Hooke's law for small deformations. If we deform a solid slightly, this will lead to a linear restoring force, which is equivalent to that derived from simple harmonic oscillation, aka a spring!
So basically, at a very fundamental and slightly perturbed level, everything acts like a spring.
Thus, all solids have some sort of elasticity! Coming back to Hooke's law, we can generalize it by using stress, strain, and something called Young's modulus. Young's modulus is like a spring constant, but it depends only on the material and NOT the size or shape.
So the reason why I thought I'd bring this up is because the professor discussed the Young's modulus some examples of various biological and technological materials.
Teeth (dentine) has a Young's modulus of 1.5 x 10^10 Pascals.
That probably means nothing to you.
So for reference, bone has a slightly higher Young's modulus of 1.7 x 10^10 Pascals, and steel has a Young's modulus of 2 x 10^11 Pascals.
Collagen (tendon) has a Young's modulus of 2 x 10^9 Pascals, and Elastin (skin) has a Young's modulus of 4 x 10^5 Pascals.
Take home message: if we were to make a spring composed of your (or my) teeth, it would be more springy than a spring made of your hip bone or your SUV, but less springy than one made of your skin.
Intuitive? Somewhat!
Biological? YES!
Eric
Anyways, today's lecture was on elasticity. I can summarize ninety minutes of lecture (beginning at 9:30am ... which is quite early on my schedule) and a notebook of equations for you by saying that all solids essentially obey Hooke's law for small deformations. If we deform a solid slightly, this will lead to a linear restoring force, which is equivalent to that derived from simple harmonic oscillation, aka a spring!
So basically, at a very fundamental and slightly perturbed level, everything acts like a spring.
Thus, all solids have some sort of elasticity! Coming back to Hooke's law, we can generalize it by using stress, strain, and something called Young's modulus. Young's modulus is like a spring constant, but it depends only on the material and NOT the size or shape.
So the reason why I thought I'd bring this up is because the professor discussed the Young's modulus some examples of various biological and technological materials.
Teeth (dentine) has a Young's modulus of 1.5 x 10^10 Pascals.
That probably means nothing to you.
So for reference, bone has a slightly higher Young's modulus of 1.7 x 10^10 Pascals, and steel has a Young's modulus of 2 x 10^11 Pascals.
Collagen (tendon) has a Young's modulus of 2 x 10^9 Pascals, and Elastin (skin) has a Young's modulus of 4 x 10^5 Pascals.
Take home message: if we were to make a spring composed of your (or my) teeth, it would be more springy than a spring made of your hip bone or your SUV, but less springy than one made of your skin.
Intuitive? Somewhat!
Biological? YES!
Eric
Monday, September 20, 2010
Election results!
So the results are in ...
I'm now Treasurer of the Harvard Pre-Dental Society!
And YES the Pre-Dental Society is in fact officially reinstated after a relatively long hiatus (a couple of years).
See my previous post about Harvard's Pre-Dental Society!
I'll continue to blog about the events we will host and the services we will provide to the university as well as to Cambridge community - stay tuned :)
Eric
I'm now Treasurer of the Harvard Pre-Dental Society!
And YES the Pre-Dental Society is in fact officially reinstated after a relatively long hiatus (a couple of years).
See my previous post about Harvard's Pre-Dental Society!
I'll continue to blog about the events we will host and the services we will provide to the university as well as to Cambridge community - stay tuned :)
Eric
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Harvard Pre-Dental Society - reinstated!
On Saturday, September the 11th, 2010, the Harvard community experienced a small-scale renaissance (VERY small-scale) - the reinstatement of the Harvard Pre-Dental Society!
That's right folks - earlier today a group of determined and enthusiastic individuals sharing the same career plans assembled themselves and discussed the plans, goals, and future of one of Harvard's three pre-professional student organizations. In this gathering birthed a number of ideas for the year including a dental research symposium and community outreach through flossing/brushing education for grade-school students in Boston.
Although this group is relatively modest in size, I DO see a ton of potential and momentum in us members alone, not to mention the additional faculty support. Here's to an exciting year!
PS - There will be elections for board positions at some point next week, and I'm definitely interested in running for a position to play an immediate and active role in the pre-dental society's revival and education/research initiatives. Board member or not, I'll be sure to keep posting about our group's accomplishments and ideas!
Eric
That's right folks - earlier today a group of determined and enthusiastic individuals sharing the same career plans assembled themselves and discussed the plans, goals, and future of one of Harvard's three pre-professional student organizations. In this gathering birthed a number of ideas for the year including a dental research symposium and community outreach through flossing/brushing education for grade-school students in Boston.
Although this group is relatively modest in size, I DO see a ton of potential and momentum in us members alone, not to mention the additional faculty support. Here's to an exciting year!
PS - There will be elections for board positions at some point next week, and I'm definitely interested in running for a position to play an immediate and active role in the pre-dental society's revival and education/research initiatives. Board member or not, I'll be sure to keep posting about our group's accomplishments and ideas!
Eric
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