Biography: Eefei Chen graduated with an ScB in Chemistry from Brown University and attended graduate school at Georgetown University. Although she graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry, she has little experience with biochemical research, rather her hands-on experiences are in the field of Biophysics. In graduate school, she was introduced to the use of lasers to trigger reactions in studies of bioinorganic molecules. As a postdoctoral fellow, and then researcher, in the lab of David S. Kliger at UCSC, the application of lasers was extended to the study of protein folding and function. One of her favorite projects was building a nanosecond laser temperature-jump optical rotatory dispersion system to study early events in protein folding/unfolding.
Eefei has received the Grants-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi, the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Scholarship, the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the ACS Silicon Valley Outreach Volunteer of the Year award.
Through these experiences, Eefei discovered her talent in communicating science through graphic design. In addition to holding a full-time research job in the Kliger lab at UCSC, she demonstrated her graphics talent through her Women Pioneers in Chemistry & Biochemistry exhibit (2016) that was displayed in the UCSC Physical Sciences Building, her theater program for the performances of No Belles, Legends of Women in Science (2019) on 5 Bay area campuses, and a multitude of flyers for fun and interesting scientific topics Zoomed during COVID, including A Muggle’s Guide to Harry Potter’s Chemistry.
Statement: If you have ever experienced the wonderment in the eyes/faces of students’ (K through college), then you understand the passion I have for helping students understand scientific concepts. I am most excited when I can help a student feel more confident in their studies or in the poster they are presenting for a science fair. Since the late 1990s, I have been a judge for science fairs at our local Santa Cruz elementary and middle schools – Mission Hill, Bonny Doon Elementary, and Brooknoll Elementary – and I have consulted on local high school science fair projects that went on to the County Science Fair. I have also been a judge at the SACNAS National Conference and Intel ISEF. I have worked with UCSC ACCESS (Advancing Community College Education for Science Students), CAMP (California Alliance for Minority Participation), and MARC/MBRS (Minority Access to Research Programs/Minority Biomedical Research Support) students to prepare them for oral and poster presentations.
As Alternate Councilor, I want to be involved with outreach not only on the college level, but also on the elementary/middle/high school levels. It is important to introduce science at a young age with the hopes of inspiring and encouraging the next generation of scientists. The broad outreach offered by SVACS can make this possible.