Jinwoo Lee
News
2025 was a year that demanded many important decisions from me. Perhaps because of their weight, I dared to make those decisions with an unexpected lightness. The result was beyond my prediction. I began a PhD program in a sunny country I had never been to before (News #09), and I married the warmest woman in the world (News #011).
That same courage continuted to return great happiness to me after I arrived in the United States. A major reason I decided to pursue a PhD here was my desire to overcome a deep-routed anxiety about communicating with unfamiliar people in a language that is not my own. I practiced approaching others first, armed with the arrogance of believing that even if my words were clumsy, the sincerity conveyed through my gestures and gaze would be enough. Of course, far more days went differently than I had hoped. Luckily, on those days, I met colleagues who reached out to me first. In the end, I can only say that everything came down to good fortune. The happiness I felt was exactly proportional to the fear I carried.
As a doctoral student, the start has been a good one. I officially published my master’s thesis as first and corresponding author (News #10), as well as a collaborative paper as second author (News #12). With my advisor’s warm and encouraging guidance, I was able to dive straight into my first PhD project and sketch and overall roadmap for the doctoral journey ahead. Under such generous support, I want to become a scientist who reads more deeply and sharply, chooses bold approaches while analyzing with the utmost rigor, and communicates ideas with the greatest possible clarity.
Hoping that next year will keep courage, diligence, honesty, and humor close at hand, I now send off 2025, a year fillwed with greater uncertainty and joy than any other time in my life. Good bye! 👋
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