The following is part of a series of short interviews from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Each spotlight features a student answering questions about themselves and life at MIT. Today’s interviewee, YongYan (Crystal) Liang, is a senior majoring in EECS with a particular interest in bioengineering and medical devices — which led her to join the Living Machines track as part of New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) at MIT. An Advanced Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (SuperUROP) scholar, Liang was supported by the Nadar Foundation Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar award for her project, which focused on steering systems for intravascular drug delivery devices. A world traveler, Liang has also taught robotics to students in MISTI Global Teaching Labs (GTL) programs in Korea and Germany — and is involved with the Terrascope and MedLinks communities.
Q: Do you have a bucket list? If so, share one or two of the items on it.
A: I’d like to be proficient in at least five languages in a conversational sense (though probably not at a working proficiency level). Currently, I’m fluent in English, and can speak Cantonese and Mandarin. I also have a 1,600-plus day Duolingo streak where I’m trying to learn the foundations of a few languages, including German, Korean, Japanese, and Russian.
Another bucket list item I have is to try every martial art/combat sport there is, even if it’s just an introduction class. So far, I’ve practiced taekwondo for a few years, taken a few lessons in boxing/kickboxing, and dabbled in beginners’ classes for karate, Krav Maga, and Brazilian jiujitsu. I’ll probably try to take judo, aikido, and other classes this upcoming year! It would also be pretty epic to be a fourth dan black belt one day, though that may take a decade or two.
Q: If you had to teach a really in-depth class about one niche topic, what would you pick?
A: Personally, I think artificial organs are pretty awesome! I would probably talk about the fusion of engineering with our bodies, and organ enhancement. This might include adding functionalities and possible organ regeneration, so that those waiting for organ donations can be helped without being morally conflicted by waiting for another person’s downfall. I’ve previously done research in several BioEECS-related labs that I’d love to talk about as well. This includes the Traverso Lab at Pappalardo, briefly in the Edelman Lab at the [Institute for Medical Engineering and Science], the Langer Lab at the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, as well as in the MIT Media Lab with the Conformable Decoders and BioMechatronics group. I also contributed to a recently published paper related to gastrointestinal devices: OSIRIS.
Q: If you suddenly won the lottery, what would you spend some of the money on?
A: I would make sure my mom got most of the money. The first thing we’d do is probably go house shopping around the world and buy properties in great travel destinations — then go around and live in said properties. We would do this on rotation with our friends until we ran out of money, then put the properties up for rent and use the money to open a restaurant with my mom’s recipes as the menu. Then I’d get to eat her food forever.
Q: What do you believe is an underrated invention or technology?
A: I feel like many people wear glasses or put on contacts nowadays and don’t really think twice about it, glossing over how cool it is that we can fix bad sight and how critical sight is for our survival. If a zombie apocalypse happened and my glasses broke, it would be over for me. And don’t get me started about the invention of the indoor toilet and plumbing systems!
Q: Are you a re-reader or a re-watcher? If so, what are your comfort books, shows, or movies?
A: I’m both a re-reader and a re-watcher! I have a lot of fun binging webtoons and dramas. I’m also a huge Marvel fan, although recently, it’s been a hit or miss. Action and romcoms are my kinda vibes, and occasionally I do watch some anime. If I’m bored I usually re-watch some [Marvel Cinematic Universe] movies, or Fairy Tail, or read some Isekai genre stories.
Q: It’s time to get on the shuttle to the first Mars colony, and you can only bring one personal item. What are you going to bring along with you?
A: My first thought was my phone, but I feel like that may be too standard of an answer. If we were talking about the fantasy realm, I might ask Stephen Strange to borrow his sling ring to open more portals to link the Earth and Mars. As to why he wouldn’t have just come with us in the first place, I don’t know; maybe he’s too busy fighting aliens, or something?
Q: What are you looking forward to about life after graduation? What do you think you’ll miss about MIT?
A: I won’t be missing dining hall food very much, that’s for sure — except for the amazing oatmeal from one of the Maseeh dining hall chefs, Sum! I am, however, excited to live the nine-to-five life for a few years and have my weekends back. I’ll miss my friends dearly, since everyone will be so spread out across the States and abroad. I’ll miss the nights we spent watching movies, playing games, cooking, eating, and yapping away. I’m excited to see everyone grow and take another step closer to their dreams. It will be fun visiting them and being able to explore the world at the same time! For more immediate plans, I’ll be going back to Apple this summer to intern again, and will finish my MEng with the 6A program at Cadence. Afterwards, I shall see where life takes me!