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Note: was an MBL Whitman Center scientist for nearly two decades and a member of the Whitman Steering Committee.

Four researchers share how their parents influenced their choice of a research career and how their own parenthoods have influenced their science.

FRED CHANG: Respect personal choices and decisions

Professor of cell and tissue biology at the University of California, San Francisco.

My parents immigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the 1950s to pursue graduate studies in engineering. My father, David Chang was a mechanical engineer who started a company in our garage, so my childhood was surrounded by electrical machinery and tools. My mother, Helen Chang, worked as a staff scientist at a diabetes lab at Stanford University in California. She introduced me to the environment of a biomedical lab and trained me to work in one. My parents placed a high priority on getting me the best education possible and gave me opportunities to broaden my education in maths and science.

In my early 30s, I married and had two children. I am a cell biologist and my ex-wife is a professional musician, so my daughter and son grew up with both music and science at home. They spent many formative summers with me at Woods Hole in Cape Cod, where I work as a summer investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Woods Hole is like a summer camp for scientists, and my children got to see how much fun I had making discoveries while collaborating with friends and colleagues.

Woods Hole also operates a science school at which my children learnt how to observe and explore the rich natural environments at the seashore.