Why I am pursuing simotaneous degrees in Civil Engineering and Urban Studies

My decision to do a simultaneous degree in civil engineering and urban studies seems really odd, but I think its worth it. I'm still contemplating how this will work out, but given the few weeks I've spent on this life-changing campus, it's best to examine why I chose this path; I normally don't blog this long. The fact that I've gave such a long post shows: I am actually stopping and thinking about the consequences of my actions at Berkeley, and I've been so happy here that I don't do the latter (which can be a bad thing). If you can handle reading this long and want to know a bit more about me, you are kick-ass!

In short, I chose to do the simultaneous degree in those two fields because I want to establish an interdisciplinary curriculum, while creating an urban planning, public policy approach to designing, building and maintaining the built environment around me. I want humanity in my education, and to broaden my way of thinking.

History of Art 24: Looking at Berkeley Buildings!

YES! I'm number 9 out of 10 on the waitlist and can still get into a class of 20 people! I'm really excited for the class I really want to join!

How un-robotic can I become?

What a weird topic to my blog post, but pretty dear to my mind; this is something I ponder almost every minute of my life.

I have no regrets (as of now) being a civil engineering major, given my love for architecture and wondering: how is this building or bridge built?

However, many challenges in life make it really difficult for me to study civil engineering.

For example, two years ago, I wanted to major in Asian Studies because I loved (and still do) Asian culture. I have a strong passion for doing something to contribute to the Asian-American activist movement and contemporary Asian-American culture. Given my involvement in my school's debate club, I'm also into politics and other social sciences (especially sociology!). I'm pretty much somebody who has a open-minded love of the liberal arts that cannot be restrained.

UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, unlike the College of L&S, does not have specific breadth requirements for the Humanities/Social Science requirements. For example, in L&S, there are 6th breadth requirements (i.e. you have to take 1 philosophy course, 1 international/area studies course, one biological course, one social behavior course, etc.), whereas in College of Engineering, there are six humantites courses - two of them have to be English courses, and the four others can be anything you want (well, one have to be related to American Culture and the other has to be American History, but that's just a university-wide requirement). While I can use the CoE requirements and take classes specific to the L&S requirements, I get a bad impression of how the CoE treats the liberal arts. College is where one can be an open minded and well-rounded individual, but the CoE's leninency on the Humanitities/Soc. Science requirements show that well-rounded-ness isn't a priority.

These challenges make me feel robotic because I want to learn more about myself, as an individual. Engineers have an impact on everything in society, positively or negatively, and the humantities explains why people do what they do, especially, but not limited to, engineers.

I chose civil engineering because I wanted to preserve Asian Architecture (as well as promote sustainable design and improve our aging infrastructure). This is the field which allows me to do something about a number problems in our world today, while trying to understand my culture, which I barely understand.

My only hope is that people respect the field of engineering (and, for some, maybe enter it?), while putting out the need for engineers to be well-rounded in other fields. Engineering is very technical-based, specific, stereotypically (and sometimes truthlly) unsocial, and especially difficult; these characteristics make it difficult for people to even accept engineering, espeically when America needs them a lot.

I have a difficult time explaining and defending why I chose civil engineering, given that I sound more like a liberal arts major than an engineering major; I appreciate my open-minded-ness, and my belief is that people will appreciate this rare quality. Engineers can be social scientists too, historians, public policy influences, artists, performers, polticians, teachers, etc! I want people to accept me if I am a citizen-journalist in my free time, an Asian-American activist trying to promote Hmong cultural arts, a sociologist analyzing 3rd generation Asian-American families, or whatever it may be, all while being an engineering major.

While college majors are really specific, I choose to go to college because I want to learn about life in general, not primarily because I want to study a career-specific field just to get a career specific job.

Ronald Takaki: an inspiration to my Asian-American identity

UC Berkeley Professor Ronald Takaki; (April 12, 1939 - May 26, 2009)

I know I should be sleeping now (I'm pretty tired; long day), but given the news of his recent passing away (he had multiple schelrosis, and commited suicide because he could not endure the disease anymore, according to his family), I felt compelled to dedicate a post to him.

Ronald Takaki was a very, very FAMOUS, Ethnic Studies professor at UC Berkeley who helped started one of the first Ethnic Studies programs in the United States (at UC Berkeley) during the crazy 1960s at Cal, taught the first Black History course at UCLA, and wrote many different books on Ethnic Studies. 

Takaki was a huge influence in my life, and despite that I don't know that much about him as much as I should, I definitely believed he helped me value my Asian-American identity.

I remember taking a Sociology class in Community College the summer before my sophomore year in high school (Summer 2006) which changed my life forever; one of the topics we focused on was Race in California history. A book we read (too lazy to type down its title), had a review written by a Asian-American author named Ronald Takaki, who wrote a book with a title to do with "Iron Cages". Curious about his name (given that my early exposure to Asian-Americans were only limited to math and science like people, as well as working class As-Am), I decided to look him up.

I found the website: modelminority.com (unfortunately, somebody seemed to have hacked the website), and noticed Ronald Takaki's chapter, on the book, Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian-Americans, dedicated to Asian-Americans and the model-minority stereotype, and wow, I learned thought-provoking stuff that challenged the way ordinary people viewed Asian-Americans. I began to learn that Asian-Americans were viewed incorrectly by the government, that while there are a good # of AAs in successful fields like science & engineering (Chinese, Korean, Japanese), medical field, etc. there were also a good # of AAs (i.e working class AAs, Pacific-Islanders or Southeast Asians) who were not, and the stereotype can definitely negatively affect how social services would be given to them (i.e lack of affirmative action toward SE Asians, lack of help for people like the Hmong ethnicity). Takaki was able to connect the amount of APAs in the professional fields (i.e. "the stable fields" )with the lack of APIAs in the managerial fields (i.e. "the somewhat risky fields"; he didn't say it like that quote, but you get what I mean). With the lack of APIAs in the managerial fields, think of the bad media image of Asian-American males (i.e. "femanized, nerdy, passive, non-social males") that makes it hard for Americans to associate with APIAs. The list goes on and on, but you can see the crazy connections. 

In other words, the Model-minority stereotype makes it hard for Americans to understand who Asian-Americans are, and that made me feel compelled to discover my Asian-American identity and VALUE it, so future generations of Asian-Am know their ethnic background and don't become erased from the fabric of American history. I want my own government to be able to understand (fortunately, the Obama adminstration recognizes APAs are not model-minorities) that we aren't model minorities, and we need to be understood in a better way so that we can properly be respected in society for who we are, while we can express our identities in a happy manner. That's America.

Because of Ronald Takaki, I began to do a lot of things. I started reading Hardboiled Magazine at Summer 2006, a monthly APA newsmagazine at Cal; I began to read more Asian-am lit to understand my identity. I talked to my friends about the issues the APIA community faced (although nobody cared). I also read up on my Asian-Am history, and now, I know a lot about Asian-Am history (although I'm still learning). Now, I am inspired to preserve Asian Architecture, and he's one of the reasons why I plan to study at UC Berkeley (even though he doesn't teach there anymore).

Takaki inspired a sense of caring about our unique identities in America, political activism, and civic virue. Many APAs, Asian-American studies majors or Ethnic Studies, or not (he's a well-known figure in the AAS and Ethnic Studies department) have been inspired by him. Rest in Peace, and may our generation provide a benefical change in the world that benefits the common good.

Francis Chen

UC Berkeley Class of 2009 Engineering Commencement Speech

What a very inspiring, hilarious commencement speech by Yue Tu, IEOR major at Cal who is graduating this year (Class of 2009!).

He definitely makes a statement that given the economic crisis, we as engineers, with our innovation, are at the best times to make a difference in these tough times. I'll let him say the speech for himself, because he says his statements the best.

This could be all of us in the Class of 2013, regardless of our fields, making a "beneficial, common-good like difference" in this world through any means necessary in the Class of 2013!

Cal Day 2009