MEET YAN CHEN
As an immigrant, a scientist, and a business owner, I have developed skills to navigate in an unknown environment by first immigrating to America when I was 19. Under extreme financial hardship, I’ve learned to be independent, work hard, and prioritize. My curiosity about how and why things work has led me to three disciplines in science: chemistry, physics, and biology. I am deeply impressed with how nature handles complexity and firmly believe that we can learn from nature if our human organization wants to be sustainable. I have achieved financial stability by investing, working in construction, and working with tenants. I had the aspiration for politics when I thought I had a strategy to address our climate crisis through science, but by running for the City Council position, I’ve learned that our government needs some “TLC” to be sustainable for its long-term health. Otherwise, our government will have crises again and again even if the energy supply issue is addressed.
As a mother, I am aware of the attitudes of our younger citizens towards their futures. They are not optimistic and are keenly aware of the problems the world is facing. Their opportunities become limited. We need to bring optimism back to our younger citizens! They will rise to the challenges if they sense the opportunity. China gave me a solid basic education and wisdom about life. But it was in America where I could build on my foundation and broaden my outlook to a level I would have never imagined. With that, I am eternally grateful for what America has done for me.
Immigrating at 19 meant I could neither depend on my family nor have any real-life experience that prepared me for a different world. The moment I landed on American soil, I realized that I could not understand or talk to people in English even though I could read in English. I had to learn to adapt to a new culture, to be independent and responsible for my present and future, as expected from any adult in America. I was lost and scared. However, because of the hardship, once I survived, I realized I could handle anything in the world because I now know how to start from scratch.
IMMIGRATION
SCIENTIFIC CAREER
I’ve learned how to successfully approach a project and carry it out to completion. Every publication exemplifies that. Every project has bottlenecks. Identifying and eliminating bottlenecks has given me confidence in solving problems creatively and efficiently. During the same time, I’ve also developed my moral clarity….yes, even in science. Scientists are human, and we have the same fallacies and strengths, but we can check in with reality by critically examining data. I respect data more than reward. I am finishing my last paper, demonstrating my ten years of struggle to understand the fundamentals instead of chasing the shining new knowledge that yet has a solid foundation. In political life, data can mean people and how people react to governmental policies. Governmental policies must be constantly modified and improved by getting feedback from people to achieve their desired goals. I will speak for people just like what I have been doing for the data in science.
REAL ESTATE
I’ve learned much about American society through working with my contractors and tenants. I didn’t think about political change in the beginning. As a scientist, I naturally focused on solutions for climate change, but that experience planted a seed about political change. Our society has to do better because it can! Other countries can’t because their political system is much more rigid. In fact, without a TLC in our government, a tremendous amount of human potential is continuously wasted. Our government constantly deals with crises because of many unsolved problems over time. Let’s take advantage of our unique political system and gently remodel our system to remove problems at their root cause and thus be responsive to the needs of common people.
