

Jenny Chen

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Jenny's D-Plan
What's a D-Plan?-
FallOn Campus
Favorite Class: Sociology 001I looked forward to this class every week, partly because of the professor and partly due to the content. We read books on a wide variety of topics, ranging from privilege and how it affects our interactions with others to restaurant kitchens and the hierarchies inherent in surgical residencies.
WinterOn Campus
Favorite Class: Biology 013Biol13 is structured so that you have to work as a group on difficult class problems and even on some exams, which was novel to me and pushed me to really understand the material. This class inspired me to pursue research (both off-campus and on-campus) related to genetics.
SpringOn Campus
Favorite Class: The Body: The Nude in Western Visual ArtAlthough this class was daunting to me in the beginning, given that I had little to no experience in either Women's, Gender, and Sexuality or Art History, it was also one of the classes in which I became the most engaged in. For our final project, I investigated the history of allegories in Western art and why they were so often portrayed as women.
SummerOff Campus
I interned at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA under Dr. Livingston. I explored the mechanism by which BRCA1 acts as a tumor suppressor. It was really rewarding to be able to apply what I had learned in Biol13, including specific procedures and techniques we had been tested on, to a real-life laboratory setting.
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FallOn Campus
Favorite Class: Organic ChemistryThis class is notorious for its difficulty, and I would not call it an easy class. Nonetheless, it was my favorite class because I loved Professor Jacobi, who has taught at Dartmouth for 22 years, and I appreciated learning mechanisms behind why certain reactions happen. Instead of rote memorization, this class relied on being able to predict the products of a reaction, a skill picked up from lots of practice.
WinterOn Campus
Favorite Class: Introduction to Cultural AnthropologyAlthough this was an introductory class, Professor Craig made it more dynamic and interactive, with several visits to the Hood Museum of Art, ethnography labs, and weekly discussion posts. I learned about everything from the Gebusi culture and their rites of passage to the opioid epidemic. For my final paper, I conducted an ethnography studying the social dynamics that take place in Baker Lobby and how that relates to the exchange of capital.
SpringOn Campus
Favorite Class: Introduction to Programming and ComputationThough I had taken four years of computer science before (mostly in middle school), I did not have a very good experience with coding prior to taking CS1. However, the professor was one of the best professors I have had, explaining jargon in understandable ways and even giving out chocolate bars to students who answered the most difficult questions she would ask in class. I was certain that there was no way I would be able to create the lab assignments (such as a revolving solar system animation and map of Dartmouth that calculated the shortest possible route between two points), but she enabled all of us to through exercises, short assignments, and exams.
SummerOn Campus
Favorite Class: Sex, Gender, and SocietyI took this class for a distributive requirement and ended up loving it. Each student was assigned a day to present on a certain topic - mine being patriarchy. I decided to analyze relationships in Crazy Rich Asians through a lens of the patriarchal bargain. We explored transgender issues, the history of feminism, gender identity, and so much more. Would highly recommend!
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FallOn Campus
Favorite Class: Sports AnalyticsAs someone who didn't know the rules to pretty much any sport, I tentatively signed up for this class. However, the professors made it clear that everyone had a different sports background, so I never felt at a disadvantage. We used Markov chains to predict winners of tennis matches, analyzed field goals kicks using logit models, and listened to guest speakers from a variety of industries.
WinterOff Campus
I spent the winter at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, studying epidemiology and global health. I was first involved on a project using data surveillance and social media to model Ebola outbreaks in the DRC, but as soon as the COVID-19 outbreak started, I transitioned to that. I was even able to publish my first paper!
SpringOff Campus
I was planning to study in Rome for the term and practice my basic Italian skills, but unfortunately the program was canceled. Instead of taking classes, I decided to continue working at my winter internship at NIH. Some of the research I conducted involved analyzing data on excess mortality as a method of estimating the true burden of COVID-19.
SummerOff Campus
I continued my research at Fogarty while also working part-time as a Learning Fellow for BIOL13 (Gene Expression and Inheritance), a job I also did my sophomore summer. It was great to see some familiar faces and help with transitioning this very interactive class into something Zoom-friendly!
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FallOn Campus
Favorite Class: Design ThinkingI had heard about this class long before taking it my senior fall, as it's one of those quintessential Dartmouth classes. We had a total of six projects over ten weeks, many of which were group projects. They included everything from building rollercoasters, creating Photoshop posters to combat harmful misconceptions, and designing prototypes to improve student dorm life. I learned so much about what it means to design ethically and purposefully, and will definitely carry these lessons forward with me in my future endeavors.

To the College on the Hill...
I have put off on writing this post for a few weeks because there is so much I want to say in my final blog post.

Highlights of My Last Term at Dartmouth
There are a few things that have been noticeably different about this term compared to others, all of which I have appreciated!

A Spring Walk Around Campus
The trees are full, flowers are blooming, and the weather is gorgeous.

My Recent Book Additions
Over a course of a few days, I ended up adding five books to my personal collection - after having not bought a book in months!

The Beginning of the End (Senior Year Edition)
As a senior, especially during times of COVID-19, there is a lot of uncertainty in my life and those of my friends.

My Journey through Fellowship Applications
Growing up, I remember vaguely hearing of a number of fellowships, whether from my older sister, parents, friends' siblings, etc., but I didn't know much about them.

Completing the Biology Major
I applied to Dartmouth as a biology major what feels like ages ago, but I had no idea what it would be like.
Checking Off My Winter Bucket List
This year, given all the memories I missed out on due to COVID-19, I decided to brainstorm a list of everything I wanted to do before leaving Dartmouth.
- No. 1
Ice skating!
This was a pretty easy one to cross off, given that Dartmouth installed two new ice skating rinks right on the Green to encourage socialization in a safe way. I hope they keep these around in the next winters to come because they seemed to add a lot of life to the center of campus. Not only did I appreciate ice skating myself, but I also loved walking by on my way to get food or go to the library and being able to see people ice skating and enjoying themselves!
- No. 2
Reuniting with friends
This one was kind of vague, but one group of my friends had not been all together since junior fall (and we were still missing a few people!). On the first weekend out of quarantine, we went to a restaurant downtown to catch-up. It was so great to be around them again and talk about everything that’s happened since our last get-together more than a year ago - study abroad experiences, internships, and quarantine activities, to name a few.
- No. 3
Movie nights
One of my friends and I had regular weekly movie nights, which was so much fun and the perfect way to unwind. We watched Blades of Glory, the Notebook, and When Harry Met Sally, all of which I had not seen before!

My Second Four-Course Term
In case you didn't know, Dartmouth operates on a quarter system, which means that in each term, students typically take three classes. However, they can also elect to add an additional course!

Mid-Winter Update: Skating, Snacks, Snow!
In previous winters, I was able to skate on Occom Pond, usually at events with my Living Learning Community, and I'm glad to see that we're still able to take part in such winter festivities even with COVID-19 restrictions.