Harry Dong
What's your year, major, and hometown? Also what is a fun fact about yourself?
I'm a senior, studying Statistics and Computer Science. My hometown is Tracy, California, which is about an hour east in the Central Valley. A fun fact is that I am on the ballroom dancing team.
What other hobbies or interests do you have?
Recently, in part because of quarantine, I've been hiking a lot, also reading and a little bit of writing, an interest I sort of found out pretty recently. Besides that, I've also been playing a little bit of tennis. I've also enjoyed baking a little bit.
What are you interested in doing after graduation? Why are you interested in those fields? And how have you pursued those interests, either with professional experience or other on campus involvements?
After graduation, I'll be going to grad school. I'll be going for a PhD in electrical engineering. I haven't decided on which school I want to go to, but I think most likely I'll be going to CMU for my PhD. The reason why I got interested in it was pretty recent, actually. The area of electrical engineering I want to get into is about systems and control, and that's something I found out I was interested in about less than a year ago while doing research, and that was the trajectory that the research was going towards. So I would say that my interests that have come from my college experiences emerged mostly through research and my involvement in several research groups. I bounced around a little bit and then landed in a comfortable spot, and that's what I want to do during my PhD. I did try out industry experience a little bit, as I was at Amazon last summer, so I could make sure that I wanted to dedicate the next five or six years to a PhD. And after comparing my interests in industry and in research, I ultimately decided to go for a PhD.
Could you share more about the research projects that you were able to do?
One of the main projects I spent my time on was with Professor Alexandre Bayen, and what we did is a sort of traffic control problem in which, for example, Google Maps or Apple Maps gives you a route from Point A to Point B. However, what we're considering is how do we route people so we minimize the traffic? So not just assigning someone the shortest path from A to B, but considering what impact this person has on traffic. So in a broad sense, the research topic has been finding optimal routing for traffic systems. This boils down to not only a controls problem but also one about fairness.
What previous SAAS positions or committees were you involved in?
I first joined SAAS back when it was called SUSA during my freshman year. I joined the Career Exploration committee in Fall 2017. Then I left the club for two years, and then I rejoined my junior year on the Education committee. The semester after that, I became the Education Director. Now I am not the Director of Education anymore, but I'm still part of the Education committee
How did you first find out about SAAS? What made you want to come back to SAAS after your experience in the Career Exploration committee? And what specifically made you interested in the Education committee?
I don't fully remember how I found out about the club during my freshman year, but I think I probably heard about it through Calapalooza or some other flyering event like that. After my time in CX, I wanted to leave the club to pursue other interests, and at the time I knew I eventually wanted to come back, but wasn't sure about which committee I would join. The reason why I came back to the club specifically in the Education committee went along with my goal of pursuing a PhD, which was mainly to get teaching experience. I think that teaching experience is pretty crucial, especially if I'm going to be teaching in grad school, and if I continue into academia then teaching experience is absolutely fundamental. I also used to tutor people in the past which was fun, so that's another reason how I got interested in the Education committee.
During your time in the club, what have been a few things you've done or accomplished that you've been especially proud of?
I think definitely my biggest impact in SAAS has been through my experience in the Education committee. During the time that I was Education Director, I adjusted the curriculum based on my experiences in CX and from the feedback that we got last semester, which all involved developing new content and creating a new lecture that's now turned into a workshop for this semester. So overall I think my biggest impact in SAAS has been developing material in the Education committee.
What can you tell me about a few of your favorite SAAS memories?
I've really enjoyed the donutbots, especially meeting people outside of my committee. The Education committee tends to be very, I guess, in their own little bubble with themselves and with CX, and so meeting people outside of my own immediate committee is really fun.
Of the three SAAS values of community, exploration, and mentorship, which one means the most to you and why?
Definitely mentorship is the most important to me. I think it's probably because I'm part of the Education committee, but even as a freshman in CX, I received a lot of guidance, and not just in SAAS, but also in my research groups and other clubs I've been part of. So I think that mentorship allowed me to see things that I wouldn't have normally seen on my own, and it all really opened my eyes to new possibilities, especially in terms of my interest with what I'm going to be doing for my PhD. That's not something that I probably would have discovered on my own. It's something that my research mentors and the people around me in SAAS have introduced me to.
Since you're a senior and your graduation is soon, what is your personal vision for SAAS going forward?
I think SAAS is both a technical community and a very social club, and so I would like to see that continue on, where people can not only work together, but also have fun together. Continuing on with that, I think that SAAS creates a nice community within a wide group of students, not only students who study Statistics as their major but also students from other majors as well who are still interested in statistics or data.
What has been your favorite class at Berkeley?
I would want to say Stat 150, partly because it was super challenging, but it was also really rewarding at the end. The class also tied in really well with my research at the time. 150 is a class about stochastic processes, which is something that's commonly explored in research and it's also something that I plan to continue learning about in my PhD. Definitely very difficult but definitely rewarding.
Favorite study spot on campus?
I like Sutardja Dai a lot. In that same general area of campus, I really like Blum Hall as well. It has really nice lighting, and if you have keycard access, you can get into some really nice study spots. If you look closely there are also some 'easter eggs' littered around the buildings.
Favorite library on campus?
I really like the Philosophy Library in Moses Hall. It's a really small, cute library. It could only fit about twenty people. It looks very old fashioned and vintage, and it even has a little fireplace. It's really quiet and I really like it there, but not a lot of people know about it because Moses Hall is really small.