Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi! My name is Ruijia, you can call me "Ree".
I'm a sophomore at Columbia studying computer engineering because I like understanding how computers work from the bottom up--how we go from simple physical principles to the most complex and powerful machines in the world.

For Splash Spring 2016, I'm teaching a class called "What Music STEMs From", which will explore how math, physics, and electrical engineering concepts intersect with music. During spring semester of my freshman year, I took the applied math/physics seminar "Physics, Mathematics, and Materials in Electric Guitar Design", as well as attended several lectures connecting music with engineering and information theory. For eight spectacular class periods, I learned about the math, physics, electrical engineering, and information theory principles underlying how musical instruments work, why music sounds good, and how music is stored. This series of lectures, followed by additional college courses in calculus, physics, and electrical engineering, impressed in me an acute awareness of the mathematical nature of our universe. I'm excited to share this perspective on music and STEM with Splash Spring 2016, through my class "What Music STEMs From".

Outside of class, I build drones and robot pets with the Columbia Robotics Club, as well as enjoy a variety of pursuits that resonate (in many senses of the word): songwriting, popular physics, creative nonfiction. I just started blogging at ruijia.tumblr.com--feel free to check it out!

Past Classes