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Chen Zhi Xiong
Nationality: Singapore
Current Job: Assistant Dean (Education), National University of Singapore, Singapore
Graduation: NUS Graduate School of Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS), Year 2009
Undergraduate: National University of Singapore, Singapore
"Values before success."
In retrospect, would you still have chosen to do a PhD? Why?
Yes, absolutely. It is what I have always wanted to do. I enjoy the intense and prolonged thinking processes and mental gymnastics that goes into a PhD.
On hindsight, would you still have chosen NUS to do your PhD?
Without a doubt! 4 years as an undergrad is never enough to experience NUS, why not add another 4 more! With that, you have a good foundation to go anywhere in the world.
On hindsight, would you have chosen the same research topic for your PhD?
I was working on cancer biology, mitochondria, oncogenes, reactive oxygen species, bioenergetics and the homeostatic regulation connecting all these. At that time, the conventional dogma was that cancer cells were addicted to glucose, tuned down their mitochondria activities and relied heavily on glycolysis for energy. I think we helped to change a bit of that thinking.
On hindsight, would you have chosen the same research supervisor for your PhD?
Shazib Pervaiz. I would have chosen him again and again. To me, a PhD supervisor should go beyond getting you your degree and your manuscripts published, and really be interested in you as a human being, invest in your life, and do life with you. Shazib is all that and more.
How did NUS prepare you for your career?
They prepared me by preparing to hire me. NUS showed me what grace and kindness as an employer meant. NUS believed in me – 19 years and counting.
How did your experiences as a graduate student shape and guide you in your current career?
If you can spend 4 years thinking about 1 problem, you know what it means to be tenacious, resilient and hardy.
Suggest 2 or 3 things that graduate students should do to prepare for their professional careers?
1. Network
2. Communicate
3. Learn new skills
Name 2 - 3 things you wished you had been told when you started graduate school?
1. That getting anything published was that hard!
2. The length of time spent in suspense harder!
3. The eventual disappointment hardest!
This is also one of the most important lesson that I learned from graduate school about life.
What advice would you give someone considering doing his/her PhD at NUS?
Do not neglect your social or personal life. Far from being a hindrance, it helps to keep you going when the going gets tough. In fact, I got married before my QE and my son was born after my first paper in 3rd year!
Briefly share something fun in your graduate journey at NUS that you remember
Doing life together with fellow lab mates is the best. In between 4 years of graduate studies, we completed a marathon together, travelled together, and witnessed some of the most important moments of each other’s lives.
Any other words of wisdom to share?
Values before success.