I am currently a penultimate year psychology undergraduate at SUSS.

While my initial motivations for pursuing this major were to conduct psychotherapy to alleviate distress, my extensive and eclectic readings have elucidated just how little we truly understand about psychopathology in both aetiology and nosology. Notably, the Twitter algorithm introduced me to Dr. Eiko Fried and the Netherlands school of thought on the network theory of psychopathology (Borsboom, 2017). This satiated my curiosities in how we might better comprehend the interactions between various biopsychosocial factors, a theme enveloping psychological science. Coupled with a renewed interest in statistics, I am now inclined to learning more about how we may mathematically model psychological phenomena.

I had the opportunity to support ongoing research projects in Dr. Helen Zhou’s lab at NUS YLLSoM, during which I,

• Attained greater clarity in how network analysis falls under the structural equation modelling framework
• Formalised self-taught programming skills in R and Python
• Reinforced my desires to pursue academic research.

Some steps I have (or will be taking) to work towards my goal of modelling psychopathology from a complex, dynamical systems (Olthof et al., 2023) perspective include:

• Getting the necessary mathematical foundation (e.g., Calculus 1-3, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Stochastic Processes),
• Seeking internships in research labs
• TA-ing (SUSS calls us peer mentors) statistics modules, MTH219 and MTH220.

Outside of academics, I am an EXCO member of SUSS’ student psychology society, PsyConnect, striving to enhance psychology (and statistics) education for fellow undergraduates. In my free time, I enjoy gaming, listening to K-Hip-Hop, and drinking tea (my favourites are pu-er, jasmine and matcha).