Jia Xin Luo

Hello! My name is Jia Xin Luo and I am a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Guelph. I enjoy going on long hikes, watching movies, and writing fictional stories with peers on the Internet. I am an IB program diploma graduate and right now I am majoring in biological sciences with a minor in mathematics. During high school, I have volunteered in places such as the St. John’s Rehab at Sunnybrook and my local library to encourage teens to visit the library more frequently by planning and organizing events. An interesting fact some may not know about me is that I have a fascination with wild animals, and want to get to know them more up close rather than through a cage or through a screen.

When I was younger, I grew up watching a show called ‘Wild Kratts,’ which featured the Kratt brothers as they educated their audience on a myriad of animal species and their interactions with each other and their environment. They inspired me with their enthusiasm and eagerness to teach obscure facts that may not be vastly known, and I grew interested in wild animals from that, specifically on wild mammals and how we can protect species from going extinct. Then, I was introduced to the show ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ and he taught me that science wasn’t just about cut and dry step-by-step procedures to reach a conclusion, but that it can also be fun and conclusions could lead to new discoveries. He inspired me and encouraged my interest in labs, and magnified my interest in research in a lab setting.

After entering University, I took some courses in human nutrition. From there, I grew interested in discovering how our bodies interact with different types of food we ingest on a daily basis, and how to improve our diet without taking nutritional supplements. A current future career goal I have in mind is nutritional research, in particular, food safety and not just limited to humans but also with animals. I hope to work both in the field and the lab to both satisfy my curiosity for the outside world and also directly perform experiments.