Photo of Max

It is only natural for children to dream and fantasize. For me, these dreams primarily revolved around one day becoming like the cool zoologists or ecologists I would spend my days watching on National Geographic or Animal Planet. What’s more rare is for our childhood ambitions and ideal jobs to stick with us as we grow into adulthood, let alone actually turn into something tangible. For this reason, I often find it extremely abnormal that my personal goals and aspirations have changed so little over the 15 or so years of my life that I possess memories of. Sure, there have certainly been some shifts and reality checks as I’ve matured, but for the large part I still feel the same love and passion for evolutionary biology that first got a much younger me interested in the field.

I am fortunate to have been gifted a wide array of opportunities to explore my passion for research in evolutionary biology during my time as an undergraduate student. I’ve been blessed in having nothing but the best mentors who have played a pivotal role in allowing me to realize my ambitions and progress further as a scientist. The last four years have been an absolute joy to experience and have exponentially increased my excitement about a possible future in academia and evolutionary research!

Email: maxchin@tamu.edu  CV

Education

Incoming Population Biology PhD student in the Laskowski Lab at UC Davis

B.S in Biology from Texas A&M University (2019-2023)

  • Departmental Honors in Biology
  • Undergraduate Research Scholars Thesis: Morphological trends in experimental and simulated populations of hybrid swordtails

Some of my other interests!

  • Travel! I am Malaysian by birth and was fortunate to grow up living in a variety of locations around the globe. Whether it's by foot, car, boat, or plane, I love to get out there and explore!
  • I love to both listen and play music, and I have a particular affinity for anything related to punk and other alternative subcultures!
  • I am 100% an outdoors person, I especially love to hike and scuba dive!