Dr. Xin Yi Chan is an Instructor in Biology, as well as a House Counselor in Stimson House and the Class Advisor for the Class of 2029. Dr. Chan taught science at Johns Hopkins University and St. Paul’s School before coming to Andover in 2023.
Could you describe your experience as a house counselor in Stimson?
It’s fun. It’s a very big dorm. The last dorm I worked with was also a boy’s dorm at Saint Paul’s, and that was 32 students, and this time it’s about 39, 40 students. It’s nice, and I really enjoy working with my co-house counselors, Ms. [Maya] Darville and Mr. [Troy] Turick. The boys are good. I enjoy our conversations. When I’m on duty, I stay in the common room and just try to make everyone talk to me. If they just say, “Am I good to go?” Not yet. Not until you talk to me.
How and when did you become interested in biology?
A long, long time ago, maybe before high school. I have always liked bio. There may be a little bit of influence from my parents; they really wanted me to study medicine. But as a trade-off, I really went into the basic research of biology, which is pretty much when I started. I like to read up on things.
Your research covers developmental biology, stem cells, and vascular mechanics. How and why did you choose to explore these topics?
I was working in a zebrafish lab as a freshman in college, and that happened to be a developmental biology lab. [My professor] started getting me really interested in basic biology studies, especially in developmental biology. From there, [she left for] another college, and then a new professor came in. I started working for him as a junior, and then continued my PhD research with him in Rochester. He said, “As your mentor, I would advise you to leave and work in another field to expand your horizon. I would love to have you here, stay here, and work with me continuously, but I would say you should go somewhere else first.” Because of that, I went to a lab that was more developmental biology-related. I worked with a pancreatic developmental study in mice, but I didn’t particularly enjoy killing mice, so I worked there for a year, and then I switched to working solely with human stem cell culture. I didn’t intend to do that, but I happened to know someone in that lab. He said that they were actually looking for a postdoc there, and I ended up staying there for six years.
What challenges have you encountered in research as well as STEM in general?
One main challenge is that because I work in a human stem cell lab, it’s pretty close to application. I’m more of a basic biology, scientific method-driven type of researcher. It’s not goal-oriented, but unfortunately, when you move further up the ladder in terms of the kind of organism you study, people tend to focus more on the outcome, rather than the hypothesis and the process. Those are the challenges that I have to slowly overcome and just say, “Okay, I can have a hypothesis, but I also need to be able to produce something.” So, I might as well think of how to tweak the process to get what I want.
What motivated you to move from scientific research to teaching?
When I was doing all my research, starting from grad school and then postdoc, it was sort of lonely. Even though it’s fun looking at the cells and embryos, I started volunteering to teach generally for a lot of outreach programs…Teaching students of different levels is fun. You have to practice how to tell the story in a way that they actually enjoy it. I actually really enjoyed doing that, and a few years into my postdoc, I decided that my next career move would be not to continue becoming a professor but instead to be a teacher in high school.
What do you hope students take away from science?
To go for it. If you feel like you want to do research, get your hands wet, get your feet wet. If you enjoy the process, then you know that you can handle this. The process is very important, [of] going through the whole scientific method, coming up with something that you are genuinely interested in, and then coming up with an experimental setup to figure out how you can answer the questions that you are curious to find out. When it “doesn’t work” or “doesn’t make sense,” it is, in my opinion, the best part of research. I hope that Andover students can, from our biology classes, figure out that that is the best part. That’s a takeaway. Don’t give up, keep going.
Is there anything you like particularly about Andover?
I like the community here. It’s large but not too large, and it makes me feel very welcome and comfortable in getting to know lots of people. I did not have the opportunity to meet so many people before in a work setting, and have to work closely with them as well. I enjoy that.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I have a dog, and I have a 5-year-old, so I don’t have a lot of spare time. But when I do, I like to do puzzles. I like to do Legos. I like to simply read. These days, I have been doing a new thing for me, [which] is that I would go to the library and say [to the librarian], “Hey, given the current state of the nation, I am a little bit gingerly about reading books that are too thought-provoking. I want something happy.” I actually went with [those books]. They recommended three happy, good books, and I read all of them over the break.
Do you have a favorite book?
I don’t have a favorite book. I like the general idea of doing something. As for reading, I like the process of reading something, judging a book by its cover first, even though you shouldn’t. But then after that, you say, “Oh, the start is actually pretty interesting.” It kind of gets me hooked. But then sometimes it depends on the writer, and the book will get a little bit less exciting. Or the other way around, sometimes it’s hard to get into a book. You’ll go over the same page many times, but then once you get over that, you get hooked, and you really want to figure out what’s happened in the end, but you have to control yourself not to flip through the end.
Do you have one piece of advice for students at Andover?
This is not the final destination. College is not the final destination either. Treat this as a part, a stage of your life, and enjoy everything, enjoy the process. Find your spark. Find what makes you excited, even if it’s a little thing. If you are excited about eating fries in Commons, go for it. Find that joy in you.
