Christina Feng Chang is a third year Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering, and hails from Puerto Rico. Feng Chang can’t pinpoint the one reason why she chose UConn, but she knows exactly why she chose John Lof Leadership Academy.

“JLLA is a worthwhile program because our workshops and meetings challenge us to think about things that we normally don’t have to think about,” said Feng Chang.  “As a JLLA member, you are also challenged to get out of your comfort zone and make an effort to improve on your weaknesses.”

Outside of JLLA, Feng Chang is the current Vice President of the Student Association of Graduate Engineers (SAGE). She actually decided to apply to JLLA after seeing it promoted at a SAGE event.

Joining was a way for Feng Chang to become more involved on campus outside of conducting research, and was a great way of developing new relationships. Since starting JLLA, she describes herself as willing to assert herself.

“Through JLLA, I have learned how to become more confident and more comfortable with myself and others,” said Feng Chang.

When she is not in class or the lab, Feng Chang enjoys simple, relaxing activities like watching Korean Dramas or playing a game of badminton. In order to de-stress, she plays the video game: League of Legends.

Feng Chang is researching how to predict water quality in freshwater systems, specifically modeling and understanding harmful algal blooms and hypoxia through machine learning and numerical prediction models.

Looking into the future, Feng Chang wants to use her academic knowledge and leadership skills to be “a good leader that people will look up to.”