From Concerts to Cancer Research: Claire Su's Impact at Carnegie Mellon and Beyond

When Claire Su saw Flyana Boss dance on stage at this year's Spring Carnival concert, it was an unexpected thrill.

This was Su's third year helping to plan the concert, first as a concerts lead on Activities Board and this year as concerts chair. "Ever since I started, I really wanted to see either backup dancers or just dancing in general on stage," she says. It hadn't happened until the performance by Flyana Boss.

During the artist selection process for Activities Board, Su listened to live performances from Flyana Boss, to make sure they would be a good fit for Carnegie Mellon. She heard mostly acoustic music, and she didn't know the specifics of their act when they took the stage at Spring Carnival. Su had worked for months managing all the details for the concert. Flyana Boss dancing on stage capped off the night when all her efforts came to fruition.

To prepare for more than 1,000 concert-goers, planning for the Spring Carnival concert started in November. As concerts chair, Su oversaw two concerts leads. They also planned a winter concert, and last fall they added a Homecoming concert.

Su led the communication with artists and agents. She arranged room reservations, police, and Emergency Medical Service and coordinated with the Spring Carnival Committee and the Alumni Association. Su also partnered with peers on Activities Board for promotion, ticketing, and technical operations. "I'm responsible for making sure that every single thing happens on time because one thing affects the other," she says.

Source: Claire Su. Claire Su (center) and her sisters

Although much of the work often goes unrecognized, Su loves sharing the experience of live music with other students. "I really like to choose artists where, whether or not you know their songs, you can still enjoy the show. With the live band, the atmosphere, the vibes, it's just phenomenal," she says.

Now that the Spring Carnival concert is behind her, Su is looking ahead to the fall, when she will begin the Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She's excited to move to Atlanta, where her sister lives. Both her sisters have been big supporters, encouraging her to apply to the top-ranked program and helping her with the application essays.

Source: Claire Su. Claire Su and her mother

"It's hard being a woman in STEM," says Su. She has experienced moments when her voice wasn't heard. The women in her life are huge sources of inspiration and strength. When Su was growing up, her father worked in another city. Su's mother, a professor at National Chung Hsing University, single-handedly took care of the family and household. Su remembers that her mother always brought her to activities and never failed to show up at a recital, performance, or sports game. "My mother showed me that a woman can really do it all, which has been a significant catalyst for all the things I have achieved here at CMU," says Su.

Su majored in chemical engineering with an additional major in biomedical engineering. She has balanced Activities Board with ChemE Cube and ChemE Car, and she has been awarded research grants for her work in two labs on campus.

With Daphne Chan's group in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Su synthesized protein copolymers and looked at how secondary structures affect mechanical properties. The Chan Group is working toward a biodegradable replacement for plastic. Before Su started synthesizing protein copolymers, she had to do a lot of troubleshooting and optimization. "Much of the literature right now is on whey, and I was able to expand that into gelatin and zein," she says. Su did a lot of testing to look at the secondary structures, microphase separation, and cross-linking density, applying concepts she learned in her classes. She was also part of Siyang Zheng's research group in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, researching early cancer diagnostics.

These opportunities, along with the others Su found at CMU, enabled her to explore everything she's interested in. Equipped with both soft skills and technical skills, she has set the stage for a great next act.