Sisi Kapp

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"Teaching is a more immediate, direct way of helping humanity; research a less direct but perhaps more profound way of improving the world."

  • Alumni of: 2002 Graduate Scholarship Program
  • Resides: San Francisco, CA
  • Hometown: Seattle, WA
  • Age: 32

Biography

Amy Kapp, born in Shanghai, China, and adopted by Caucasian parents, explains that she has three names, each representing different aspects of her life.

Since "Amy" is the name her parents gave her, she associates it with their influence. They fostered in her a drive to do her best, a sense of ethics, a love of art and literature, and a concern for the natural world. Her original name, Xianxian, reminds her that she is Chinese. "Although I have good and bad experiences because of race, overall, my race has had a positive effect on my life," she says.

It has also encouraged her to develop an interest in China, learning the language and broadening her perspective. And finally, her preferred name, Sisi (a derivation of Xianxian, which is hard for English-speakers to pronounce), is "the essence of me," she says. It describes her love for statistics, discipline and commitment, intellectual curiosity, and desire to help people.

Ever since volunteering at a thrift shop during her freshman year of high school, Sisi has committed some time each week to community service. Since starting college, she has volunteered at the Claremont Public Library, which she says has taught her not only about the inner workings of a library but about "how to work with a great variety of people."

Sisi plans to pursue a Ph.D. in statistics "so that I can gain a deep understanding of statistical theory and learn how to answer any question I have about our reality." Explaining her love for the discipline, she says: "The scientific method is a series of steps that eventually leads to an answer and conclusions about physical reality. Statistics is a fundamental component of the scientific method because scientific conclusions are only reached with the aid of statistics."

Sisi is already a little nostalgic about her experience at Pomona College, which she calls "absolutely wonderful," and says she eventually would like to teach in a similar setting - a small, liberal arts college, near a center of scientific research, where there are small classes and close relationships between students and professors. "Essentially," she says, "I hope to be able to balance my deep interest in research and my motivation to share the knowledge I have gained from all my experiences."

One day, Sisi hopes to be known by a fourth name, "Professor Kapp," because "it will demonstrate the achievement of my professional goals."

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