Student Introduction: Tianmin Wang, MS student in Horticulture

My name is Tianmin Wang and I am an M.S. candidate of Horticulture. Dr. Reddivari is my P.I. , since she moved to Purdue, I am lucky to have Dr. Chopra as my co-adviser in Penn State. My project is focusing on how color-fleshed potatoes will influence intestinal inflammation and investigating whether and how gut microbiota involve in this procedure.

I come from Qinhuangdao. It locates on the coast of the Bohai Sea and not far from Beijing in the northern part of China. Since I wanted to have some different life experience, I went to Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in Shaanxi province for undergraduate education, which is about 1,000 miles away from home. My major was Enology and Viticulture and I studied in the top wine college in China. So I know something about the grapes and wine, which is the small branch of Horticulture. In the senior year, I got a chance to join a Masters' Degree program in Viticulture, so I took it and studied the nitrogen nutrition of grapevine.

After the graduation of M.S., my career life as an associate manager of a vineyard near Beijing began. Applying theories into real practice is never straight forward. Every vineyard has its own characteristics: temperature, rainfall, soil, and the surrounding environment. I learned a lot there and made efforts to produce high-quality grapes and wines. Because the vineyard is not far from the subway station, I could reach downtown of Beijing after work. It usually took almost two hours to get there. The huge difference between the atmosphere in the vineyard and in downtown Beijing inspired me and I realized this was not the job that I wanted to spend the rest of my life. So I quitted and try to find a graduate program in the U.S. to continue my academic career.

I got my luck to join Penn State University in 2017. Although the research topic was totally unfamiliar and the study subjects were mice, which I had never used, learning new stuff is always fascinating. In Penn State, I also enjoyed different life and culture. I watched football in the stadium, had BBQ in the summer, and drove to the stone valley to have a 

picnic. Now, I have AEE 530 to further understand learning and teaching. Although I am busy writing my thesis this semester, every week reading and practicing educational knowledge would be a good opportunity for me to learning something new and temporally get out of analyzing and explaining data. These theories and skills will help me to fulfill my duty of Teaching Assistant this semester.