Anqi Wang selected as Eberly College of Science spring 2024 student marshal
Anqi Wang of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, will be honored as the student marshal for the Eberly College of Science during Penn State’s spring 2024 commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 5, on the University Park campus.
Wang will graduate with a 4.0 grade-point average and bachelor’s degrees in statistics and biochemistry and molecular biology. During her time as an undergraduate student, Wang received the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award and the President’s Freshman Award, was the Penn State nominee of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, and was a member of the dean’s list for eight semesters.
“During the past four years, I have taken a lot of honors courses and kept challenging myself academically. I successfully diversified my academic experiences by having two very distinct majors and having both wet-lab and computational research experiences,” Wang said. “Now I am confident to say that I have received a high-quality education at Penn State, and I am happy that I chose to come here.”
At Penn State, Wang performed research with Joyce Jose, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, as an undergraduate researcher in virology. She joined the Jose lab because of her desire to understand the cause and outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
“My independent research project under the guidance of Dr. Joyce Jose and Dr. Annop Narayanan was a success: I generated vaccine candidates against Powassan virus infections as I also learned about experimental design, troubleshooting, and scientific communications,” she said. “Although I enjoy virology research very much, I also feel compelled to diversify my research and learning experiences. I began exploring quantitative and statistical research through working with Dr. Marie-Abèle Bind from Harvard Medical School and MGH Biostatistics, leading to my immediate deep appreciation for computational methods. I am beyond grateful for all the support and guidance I have received from my research mentors.”
In addition to her research and coursework, Wang was involved in multiple extracurricular activities on campus. She was a member of Mu Sigma Rho, the national honor society for statistics; and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi; and she served as treasurer of the student organization Nittany Data Labs.
Wang said she is thankful for her experience at Penn State, and that everything she learned will be applied to the next step of her academic career — the statistics doctoral program at UC Berkeley.
“Overall, Penn State taught me to be a curious, thorough, and proactive student through research and interacting with professors,” she said. “Taking advantage of various opportunities and meaningful experiences at Penn State well prepared me for joining the statistics Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley, which will be my next milestone starting this fall.”
A graduate of Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, Wang will be accompanied by her father, Weiming Wang.