Welcome to Yi Wen's Space!
My life stories in a nutshell. Today will be a better day than yesterday! 💯
Chapter One: Childhood
Yi was raised in Guangzhou, China. He had a great childhood growing up. However, school life was always stressful for every Chinese student. Despite being in one of the top middle schools in the area, Yi was often overshadowed by his extraordinary classmates and could not establish his confidence at school. It was not until in his first year of high school when he became the English class representative that finally gained his confidence, something that could excel him from his peers, for the first time in his life. During high school, he diligently and passionately studied English and that opened a new door for him.
Yi was raised in Guangzhou, China. He had a great childhood growing up. However, school life was always stressful for every Chinese student. Despite being in one of the top middle schools in the area, Yi was often overshadowed by his extraordinary classmates and could not establish his confidence at school. It was not until in his first year of high school when he became the English class representative that finally gained his confidence, something that could excel him from his peers, for the first time in his life. During high school, he diligently and passionately studied English and that opened a new door for him.
Chapter Two: Environmental Science
In 2011, Yi entered the Beijing Normal University - Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC) to study Environmental Science. This was a new and novel university in China at that time as it used English as the teaching medium. Yi chose UIC with the hope of studying abroad for his future degrees. At UIC, Yi selected Environmental Science as his discipline. Thanks to his English skills honed in the early days of his high school life, Yi soon became a top student in his class, winning a number of scholarships and poised himself into an advantageous position for oversea study. During college, Yi travelled to Hong Kong, Germany, and United States, respectively, to attend summer and winter courses to have a taste of the education and lifestyle in different areas. Among them, his summer experience at UC Berkeley in 2014 was the most rewarding and triggered him to apply for a graduate school in the United States.
In 2011, Yi entered the Beijing Normal University - Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC) to study Environmental Science. This was a new and novel university in China at that time as it used English as the teaching medium. Yi chose UIC with the hope of studying abroad for his future degrees. At UIC, Yi selected Environmental Science as his discipline. Thanks to his English skills honed in the early days of his high school life, Yi soon became a top student in his class, winning a number of scholarships and poised himself into an advantageous position for oversea study. During college, Yi travelled to Hong Kong, Germany, and United States, respectively, to attend summer and winter courses to have a taste of the education and lifestyle in different areas. Among them, his summer experience at UC Berkeley in 2014 was the most rewarding and triggered him to apply for a graduate school in the United States.
Chapter Three: California
In 2015, Yi arrived at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for this master's degree in Environmental Science and Management, after turning down a competitive offer from the University of Michigan. The reason is simple for Yi, as a southerner, he could barely handle the cold weather in Michigan and his impression about California lifestyle was very positive after spending a summer in Berkeley. During his time in Santa Barbara, Yi learned how to drive and obtained his driver's license. Most importantly, he was 'forced' to learn how to ride a bike and became a bike commuter, something that his dad had been trying to teach since Yi's childhood. These fascinating experiences with different modes of transportation enticed Yi during his study at UCSB. As a result, Yi purposefully took courses that were relevant to transportation and the environment, as well as his choices of internships. In 2016, he had the opportunity to work with the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, in collaboration with UCSB, to co-author the first bike share feasibility for Santa Barbara. In the same year, he and four other students teamed up to work on their master's thesis on an electric vehicle workplace charging program initiated by the California government. In 2017, when Yi graduated from UCSB, he continued his passion about transportation and worked as a bicycle advocacy intern at San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and as a business development intern at Lime.
In 2015, Yi arrived at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for this master's degree in Environmental Science and Management, after turning down a competitive offer from the University of Michigan. The reason is simple for Yi, as a southerner, he could barely handle the cold weather in Michigan and his impression about California lifestyle was very positive after spending a summer in Berkeley. During his time in Santa Barbara, Yi learned how to drive and obtained his driver's license. Most importantly, he was 'forced' to learn how to ride a bike and became a bike commuter, something that his dad had been trying to teach since Yi's childhood. These fascinating experiences with different modes of transportation enticed Yi during his study at UCSB. As a result, Yi purposefully took courses that were relevant to transportation and the environment, as well as his choices of internships. In 2016, he had the opportunity to work with the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, in collaboration with UCSB, to co-author the first bike share feasibility for Santa Barbara. In the same year, he and four other students teamed up to work on their master's thesis on an electric vehicle workplace charging program initiated by the California government. In 2017, when Yi graduated from UCSB, he continued his passion about transportation and worked as a bicycle advocacy intern at San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and as a business development intern at Lime.
Chapter Four: Knoxville, Tennessee
During Yi's time with Lime, his job was to convince cities and universities that services like bike-sharing and scooter-sharing were beneficial to the environment and the society. However, after doing some individual research, Yi found out that he did not know about the answer himself. Therefore, he decided to seek a research opportunity to work on these questions that he faced at work. Fortunately, he was given an excellent opportunity to work with Dr. Chris Cherry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) on these topics. The first two years at UTK were memorable for Yi as he was soaking in every course that he was allowed to take about different aspects of transportation. In addition, his research agenda was perfectly lined up for him, a sustainability study about the local bike-share and scooter-share project, a research about e-bikes in China, and a physical activity study about e-scooters in Knoxville. However, in early 2020, when Yi returned from China for his fourth semester at UTK. COVID put a pause on everything. For Yi, as he would say, a part of him has died at that point. After COVID hit, both his research and personal life schedule were severely interrupted. Not being able to see family in four years, in addition to adapting to a new work-life situation, Yi gradually lost his focus and passion for research and suffered some minor mental health issues. Fortunately, thanks to the ever-lasting support from his PhD committee, especially his supervisor, Yi was able to complete his PhD degree in Civil Engineering and a master's degree in Statistics in 2024.
During Yi's time with Lime, his job was to convince cities and universities that services like bike-sharing and scooter-sharing were beneficial to the environment and the society. However, after doing some individual research, Yi found out that he did not know about the answer himself. Therefore, he decided to seek a research opportunity to work on these questions that he faced at work. Fortunately, he was given an excellent opportunity to work with Dr. Chris Cherry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) on these topics. The first two years at UTK were memorable for Yi as he was soaking in every course that he was allowed to take about different aspects of transportation. In addition, his research agenda was perfectly lined up for him, a sustainability study about the local bike-share and scooter-share project, a research about e-bikes in China, and a physical activity study about e-scooters in Knoxville. However, in early 2020, when Yi returned from China for his fourth semester at UTK. COVID put a pause on everything. For Yi, as he would say, a part of him has died at that point. After COVID hit, both his research and personal life schedule were severely interrupted. Not being able to see family in four years, in addition to adapting to a new work-life situation, Yi gradually lost his focus and passion for research and suffered some minor mental health issues. Fortunately, thanks to the ever-lasting support from his PhD committee, especially his supervisor, Yi was able to complete his PhD degree in Civil Engineering and a master's degree in Statistics in 2024.
Chapter Five: A Fresh Start
As of right now, Yi is finally able to see his family and the loved ones for the first time in four years, and slowly getting out of the COVID trauma. Yi is looking for a fresh start, a new journey where he can find his confidence and success again. During the difficult time with COVID, he developed a deeper love in sports and started his own podcast about NBA and MLB and was a credentialed member to cover the NBA games. This is interestingly in line with his main research of his PhD dissertation as he and co-authors found that riding an e-scooter was only a light-intensity physical activity and may not be considered as an active transportation mode. Therefore, Yi is currently looking for a future career that can combine his passion for sports and his past experience together to make transportation a more active and sustainable industry.
As of right now, Yi is finally able to see his family and the loved ones for the first time in four years, and slowly getting out of the COVID trauma. Yi is looking for a fresh start, a new journey where he can find his confidence and success again. During the difficult time with COVID, he developed a deeper love in sports and started his own podcast about NBA and MLB and was a credentialed member to cover the NBA games. This is interestingly in line with his main research of his PhD dissertation as he and co-authors found that riding an e-scooter was only a light-intensity physical activity and may not be considered as an active transportation mode. Therefore, Yi is currently looking for a future career that can combine his passion for sports and his past experience together to make transportation a more active and sustainable industry.