![\"Image](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/files\/2025\/03\/reduced_Lydia-Fong-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hi! My name is Lydia and I\u2019m a PhD student in the Zoology department studying with Judith Mank, hoping to finish my thesis this year! I did my undergraduate degree in Animal Biology at the University of Alberta and studied bird song complexity in pied flycatchers for my Masters at the University of Oslo, Norway. I am now studying sex chromosome evolution in guppies.<\/p>\n
Over the years, I\u2019ve taught BIOL 336: Fundamentals of Evolution, BIOL 340: Introductory Cell Biology Laboratory, and BIOL 341: Introductory Molecular Biology Laboratory.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve mostly taught the laboratory courses with Dr. Moussavi because the courses have been the most interactive with the students and I find I can really engage with the students and help them with their learning in these courses. One of the things I\u2019ve enjoyed the most is watching the students hit that \u201cah ha!<\/em>\u201d moment and when things start to click for them as they progress through courses, seen both in the lab and in their writing assignments. I\u2019m always so proud of the students at the end of the day!<\/p>\n I find that I learn just as much from the students as I do from my own studies. They are always asking thought-provoking questions and they push me to dive deeper into the work that I do. They say that you only know your material as well as you can teach it, and I whole-heartedly agree! Without being a TA, I think I would be lacking in experience and knowledge for my graduate studies. I am really grateful for the opportunity to be able to be a TA.<\/p>\n I still keep in touch with some of my closest friends through undergrad. This was something that a friend and I laugh about now that we can look back on it. We were in an animal physiology lab that was marked to be 4-hour long labs (2-6pm), and so we got to know each other really well – it\u2019s how we became friends! A good portion of the lab we spent it gossiping about our partners, plans for the weekend, and all sorts of juicy tea. It took maybe two or three labs in before we noticed that our TA would only ever hover around our bench for the entirety of the 4 hours, just listening to all the things we talked about \u2013 I don\u2019t even know if he properly learned anybody else\u2019s names!\u00a0 He was so invested in our lives that we even got to know his<\/em> partner! It certainly made our long labs very fun.<\/p>\n Most people who know me probably do know this \u2013 but I speak three languages! English, Norwegian, and Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin). Although my fluency is pretty conversational in the other languages I know, my goal is to eventually get comfortable with 8! I\u2019m learning French and Japanese on my own now, and have plans to learn Polish and Spanish, and my eighth language will be however I feel (leaning towards Filipino at the moment).<\/p>\n So many things! In terms of more creative outlets, I do creative writing, drawing, knitting, piano, and video editing. For more active outlets, I jog\/run, kickbox, and I used to do Japanese Jiu Jitsu (though I haven\u2019t found a gym I like here in Vancouver yet). For the most me-time though, I definitely enjoy just playing video games and picking up a good book to read!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi! My name is Lydia and I\u2019m a PhD student in the Zoology department studying with Judith Mank, hoping to finish my thesis this year! I did my undergraduate degree in Animal Biology at the University of Alberta and studied bird song complexity in pied flycatchers for my Masters at the University of Oslo, Norway. … <\/p>\nWhat has being a TA brought to your graduate studies experience?<\/em><\/h4>\n
What is a memorable anecdote from your own undergraduate experience?<\/em><\/h4>\n
What is a fun fact about you that people may not know?<\/em><\/h4>\n
What do you like to do in your spare time?<\/em><\/h4>\n