Meet the EPIC fellows: Thomas Chen

The Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Community College Faculty Fellowship program brings together a cohort of community college faculty and academic staff from various disciplines to work collaboratively with Stanford staff for one academic year on self-designed projects aimed at internationalizing curricula.

Thomas Chen, professor of cell biology at Santa Monica College, plans to build an easily accessible and user-friendly database of compelling stories of cross-cultural biologist role models to inspire students to consider a STEM field.

Why did you decide to apply to the EPIC fellowship program?

Through my decades of teaching biology using traditional textbooks, virtually all featured inspiring biology icons (e.g., Darwin, Mendel, Watson, Crick, etc.) that have a homogeneous trait. However, countless biologists who have made significant contributions have not been properly recognized simply because of their gender, skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious faith, or socioeconomic status. In casual conversations, many of my talented students tell me that they do not have role models whom they could relate and look up to. It has been my desire to research these figures and share my findings with students and educators. The Stanford EPIC fellowship is the perfect program for me to realize this goal because of the vast talent and resources, and the opportunity to cross pollinate ideas with like-minded community college colleagues in California.

Why do you believe it is important for community colleges to engage in the work of global education?

Community college students typically have multiple obligations with few opportunities to broaden their academic and personal horizons, especially international experiences. Whether they later transfer to a university or enter the workforce, it has become increasingly important that they have a global perspective and skills in any discipline that they choose. A major goal of my project is to engage students in the research effort to broaden their international outlook.

What was your favorite part of the 2022 summer intensive workshop?

While all sessions were exceptionally educational and informative, tours of the David Ramsey Map Center and Hoover Institution were my favorite activities. I also enjoyed Professor Rose Gottemoeller’s extremely insightful and timely presentation on the Russia-Ukraine war.

What are you looking forward to accomplishing and learning about over the next year as an EPIC fellow?

I hope to curate a more organized and searchable database of international biologists with inspirational stories in the form of a slide deck with a QR code that links to their amazing stories on a web platform. This could be used by educators as teaching ancillaries and, more importantly, to empower minority students.