Tongtong Zhu, a native of Chengdu, China, has become more of a
New Yorker than many New Yorkers ever will since he began his first
year at St. John’s in the fall of 2008. On almost his first
day in the city, he ventured into a Greenwich Village jazz
club. During his first weekend in New York, he crossed the
Brooklyn Bridge on foot. In short, he is a remarkable,
adventuresome, and inquiring young man with a brilliant mind and
great enthusiasm for everything he undertakes.
Tongtong is a Presidential Scholar majoring in biology with a
primary interest in research. He is seriously considering
combining a Ph.D. and M.D., but is taking one step at a
time. He has been actively involved in science research
from his arrival, in chemistry as well as biology, yet all this
science has never inhibited his interest in the city he has adopted
as his own. He attributes this passion to his Discover New
York course taken with Dr. Robert Pecorella.
The Szechuan earthquake struck on May 12, 2008 just before
Tongtong left for St. John’s. He immediately volunteered for
the rescue teams that desperately attempted to free the thousands
of people trapped in the general destruction. His own home
escaped major damage, though it is less than one hundred miles from
the epicenter of the quake. The British Broadcasting Company
relied upon Tongtong in the days immediately following for several
on-site reports.
The Honors Program proved a great support for Tongtong during
his first semester in a new country and in a city in many ways
different from his native Chengdu. “They [the Honors Program
students] were my first friends when I arrived, and they remain my
closest friends today.” Tongtong is equally generous in his
praise of the Honors Program’s faculty, noting how his research
experiences have been enhanced through his honors chemistry and
biology courses. It was through his honors biology course
that Tongtong met Dr. Tim Carter whose guidance he has especially
valued. “Because of Dr. Carter, I was able to enroll in
molecular biology and study the pathology of cancer, an area that
has especially interested me.”
Tongtong was also one of eight St. John’s students to attend the
hundredth meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
in Denver, Colorado. Dr. Alison Hyslop has become another formative
influence on Tongtong, providing guidance and encouragement in his
work in chemistry through his association as publicist with the
American Chemical Society. His classmates in Donovan Hall
elected Tongtong president of their residence hall council.
It seems that this young man has found a second home.