Personal Introduction

My mission is to educate, inspire, and nurture academic achievement within the biological sciences at secondary and tertiary institutions through equity and relational forms of justice. After finishing my Ph.D. and becoming a professor of microbial pathogenesis and science education, I would like to use my background in science education in hopes of sharing, inspiring, and encouraging my future students to explore our world through a different lens, engaging them to think critically and creatively. I also hope to assist them in building a foundation of knowledge that illustrates different perspectives that no textbook could constrain them to. This future work is important to me because I hope to address and shift the inequities that are presented within the material itself, allowing a space where I can bridge the gap between reality and the material through dialogue. By cultivating this space, I can work with students to dismantle the social discourse that surrounds mechanisms of disease, delving deeper into why/how there is a relationship between the disease and certain historically marginalized communities. In turn, I hope that this space can encourage everyone to think more broadly about the relationship between science and society.

My name is Kyle Dương and I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Communities, & Organizations (ECO) as well as a Bachelor of Science in microbiology (infectious disease immunology pathway) at the University of Washington. I am a first-generation Vietnamese American as well as a first-generation college student. Before joining the ECO major, I was on the pre-medical track in hopes of becoming a genetic physician, or an infectious disease specialist. A part of me wanting to pursue medicine came from the narratives that are associated with the debilitating stereotypes that encompass the Model Minority Myth. This all changed when I received a 1.8 G.P.A. in the first quarter of the three-quarter sequence of general biology, feeding into the idea that my grades were a valid representation of my ability. I had lost all confidence in myself, especially in my ability to successfully pursue a career in STEM. I genuinely believed that I was not good enough. Luckily, that was also my first quarter taking an education course for the first time and by chance, I absolutely fell in love with the material. I began to recognize the injustices and power dynamics that occur in science courses within higher education. From then on, I have come to the realization that my passion lies in science education. Some of the extracurricular activities that I have participated in include being a Fifth-Grade Science Fair Mentor at Bryant Elementary for the past two years, working on undergraduate education research under the supervision of Dr. Rigby, and playing the violin.