Student interview: Yiwen Li of AMC

When asked about her student life, Yiwen Li cheerfully told us about every relevant topic. Since biochemistry was her research focus at high school, she was able to quickly decide to apply to AMC at Tohoku University. “As is known, Tohoku University’s chemistry department is prestigious!” she smiled. Then after she entered, she discovered more good sides of the department. First there was the equipment: there are many laboratories fully equipped with the latest tools. If you go to Katahira campus, you will find modern buildings such as the Laboratory for Nanoelectronics and Spintronics, and WPI- AIMR Main Building. The second is the personal side: she has already had a lot of chances to share time with the skilled staff and experience their assistance during her research and experiments. One of the university’s mottos is “Research First,” and her story was true to this motto.

Yiwen Li

 According to Yiwen, professors profoundly care about students, and there is a special program called the “Homeroom Section” which was started by the AMC course. There are three professors and two student mentors exclusively for AMC students, and they share time and talk with them at a special room prepared for them on Katahira. “The topics we chat about there have such a variety” she says, “about everyday life, questions that came up through lectures, scholarships, and even Japanese food culture… anything!” Taking time for communication nurtures the students' social nature and capability for problem-solving. For her, Sendai is quite international like Shanghai, her home town, and everyday life is full of discovery.

 Yiwen is truly a science girl, so she enjoys any subjects concerned with math and science. Asked about other fun classes, she named two—business management and health. “Particularly the subjects that Prof. Nagatomi deals with at health class tend to be hotly-debated among students since they are familiar subjects like sleeping, diseases and radiation,” Yiwen said.

 Recently she has been trying to learn foreign languages like Thai and Indonesian. Going out downtown with other students, sharing cultural food with them, tackling the tasks from the professors with classmates…her interests go beyond science, and all of them will, like a chemical reaction, interact with each other resulting in the creation of her own original research field.