Xiao Huang smiles in a wintery outdoor setting.

Xiao Huang

Image courtesy of the subject

Graduate Student Spotlight: Xiao Huang

by Danielle Doughty | Department of Chemistry |
Categories: Research, Students

Chemistry Graduate Student Xiao Huang describes his research and answers 20 random questions as part of the Graduate Student Spotlight series.

Xiao Huang, a PhD candidate in Professor Heather Kulik’s group, came to MIT in 2021 from Beijing, China.

“I found my passion in promoting sustainability with innovations in molecules and materials that are guided by both fundamental scientific understandings and concrete real-world needs,” said Huang. “Consequently, I have been working on applying computational chemistry and machine learning methods to investigate mechanophores (molecules with specific physical or chemical responses to mechanical activation), to design polymers with significant sustainability impacts.”

As the subject of this Graduate Student Spotlight, Xiao reveals the app that many people are obsessed with but that he doesn’t understand, the most amazing sunset he’s seen, the museum he’d open with an extra $5M, and more!

 

  1. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in? What would be the worst to live in?
    My English name is Bruce—so Gotham for both questions
  2. If you were on a 27 hour flight and could only watch one movie, what would it be?
    Can I count three The Lord of the Rings movies as one? If not then just The Return of the King.
  3. What bit of trivia do you know that is very interesting but also very useless?
    Different pigments that ancient Chinese people used to make blue-and-while porcelain.
  4. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
    A 300 miles bike ride from the northern (Haikou) to the southern (Sanya) part of Hainan Island, China.
  5. Who would be the best person you could be stuck in an elevator with?
    Cristiano Ronaldo—the real GOAT.
  6. If you were given five million dollars to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create?
    Glassware (my real passion is porcelain but $5M is far from enough).
  7. What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?
    Clean/climate tech
  8. What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of?
    TikTok (seriously).
  9. Where was the most amazing sunset you have ever seen?
    Riding on my bike, at the end of a 80-mile cycling day, through the mountains of Southeastern China.
  10. What is special about the place you grew up?
    It has 21 million people—but not as crowded as one might expect.
  11. What did you think you would grow out of but haven’t?
    A basketball player.
  12. If animals could talk, which animal do you think would be the most annoying, and why?
    My shiba that I have back in China—obviously.
  13. If someone narrated your life, who would you want to be the narrator?
    Anyone but ChatGPT.
  14. What is your secret talent?
    Each time I turn on the livestream my favorite soccer/basketball/eSport team will often lose : (
  15. As a child, what did you think would be awesome about being an adult, but isn’t as awesome as you thought it would be?
    Being able/required to go around places for meetings/conferences.
  16. If you suddenly became a master at woodworking, what would you make?
    A catboat
  17. If you owned a boat, what would you name it and why?
    Moonlight Chaser—what I plan to do with it.
  18. What skill would you like to master?
    Right now: tennis, sailing, and cooking.
  19. What’s worth spending more on to get the best?
    Sports equipment.
  20. What job doesn’t exist now but will exist in the future?
    Therapists for AI/LLM models.