#SoCaltech: Fayth Tan
“I started off as a theater student. Then, when I went to college, I was like, ‘I want to do something completely different.’ I had a really good undergrad mentor who was so enthusiastic about weird animals and how strange and beautiful the natural world was. I felt compelled to look into that professionally, because before that, it was not something that I knew you could do. I've always been really interested in weird animals, and particularly the ocean, because I think all the weirdest nonsense is in there. I chose to be a marine biology major in college because that’s where the greatest biodiversity resides in terms of strangeness of form, and it's so poorly known and characterized. Despite being a marine biologist, I am actually pretty afraid of the ocean, and it's because I know what's in there. From my theater arts background, I took with me an appreciation of literature and an understanding of rhetoric: the way it can compel people to care about something, even if it's something really obscure like a deep-sea fish that has a transparent skull. I don't think that people are inherently disinterested in science or things that are esoteric or technical. It’s really about meeting others where they are. For me, the best feeling is being able to go up to someone and find the thing that makes them care about the thing that I also care about. Likewise, I love it when people show me perspectives that I wouldn't have considered, and I think the world's all the more rich for it.”
Fayth Tan, a graduate student in biology, was awarded the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. Fayth studies the development, evolution, and loss of regenerative ability in animals. They also write about science and its intersections with philosophy, history, poetry, and art.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.