Cyan Ching

Cyan Ching

PhD graduate at the Physical Chemistry Curie Lab working in cryo-EM image processing.

Outreach

European Forum Alpbach

Granted full scholarship to attend the European Forum Alpbach 2024 in Alpbach, Austria. The European Forum Alpbach is a yearly event since 1945 that brings together global leaders from science, politics, business, civil society, arts, and culture, alongside young scholarship holders from around the world to generate ideas and spark actions to create a better future for Europe. Completed European Space Policy Institute’s Inaugural Space Policy Bootcamp, titled “The Unfolding Space Revolution: Space for Prosperity, Peace & Future Generations”. I am also a founding member of the AI startup Lawgic with fellow scholarship holders: Adrianna Czechowska and Artur Willonski. Lawgic was selected by Alpbach IDEAS 2024, and won Red Bull Basement Poland, 2024.

Guided tour at the Curie Museum

Providing guided tours of the Curie Museum for visiting academics and students in 2022-2024. Content of the tour includes the general history of radioactivity research, the scientific, and societal significance of discoveries and innovations made by the Curie family, explanations of working mechanisms of the exhibits, and their associated anecdotes, etc. Provided tours to high school students from Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, France, Horsens Gymnasium in Horsens, Denmark, and to bachelor students from St. Norbert College, Wisconsin, the US up til May 2024.

Science communication at French high schools

Volunteered as a science communicator of Déclics (12 2022 & 11 2023), a French non-profit initiative that organises meetings between high school students and researchers to spark and encourage scientific interests in the young generation. Visited and exchanged with high school students at Lycée Victor Hugo, Lycée Stanislas, and Lycée Pierre-Gilles de Gennes - ENCPB.

Twitter paper bot

Set up and have been maintaining a Twitter bot (@Pha_Tran_Papers) that posts the latest papers on the topic of biomolecular phase transition since 2020. More than 3k followers up until July, 2023. The code for Scitify, a custom tool I developed to automatically retrieve the latest scientific publications based on specified research interests, is now open source and supports my bot.

Science Spreaders

Board member (2018-2019) of the Science Spreaders, a student-led non-profit group at Heidelberg University that organised educational events to engage university students and the general public in keeping up with the latest socially relevant science and technology. As an example, a public symposium featuring the past, present, and the future of artificial intelligence.

UAEM

Board member (2018-2020) of the Heidelberg University chapter of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a global student-led non-governmental organisation that aims to improve access and affordability of essential medicines around the world. In particular, UAEM strives to increase research and development of medicines for neglected diseases. Organised public lecture series to raise awareness of access to medicine/medical care crisis for wide-spread diseases such as tuberculosis and snake bite.

MedCo

PR manager for the medicine committee of University College Utrecht, 2017-2018. MedCo specialised in organising activities to equip students with essential education of basic medical skills by combining cure and care. E.g., first aid courses, the basic suturing workshop, lecture on the importance of keeping a healthy circadian rhythm, etc.

Liberal Academics Society

A platform for university students to share their knowledge, ideas, and skills to peers and beyond. Founder of the Liberal Academics Society in 2016 at University College Utrecht, an honours college of Utrecht University. With two generations of board members, we organised public interactive lecture sessions for undergraduate students to share their academic as well as non-academic knowledge, ideas, and skills. E.g., quantum mechanics: fiction versus reality, misconceptions about crocodiles, convert mental health struggles into growth, songwriting from the heart with the help of a loop panel, etc.