Sue Nee Tan

1. What made you choose Cornell?
When I was looking at graduate programs, I was faced with a decision between pursuing a graduate degree that would expand my breadth of knowledge and apply what I had learned in my undergraduate degree at Cornell, or continue down a more specialized, technical path at another graduate school. In the end, I embraced the challenge of learning something new while still being able to apply myself to real-world problems that are important to me, like watershed monitoring and management, and renewable integration with hydropower. 
 

2. What specific research projects are you working on right now?

I am working with my advisor  Prof. Christine Shoemaker on optimizing hydropower operations of a realistic multireservoir hydropower system in a deregulated market setting when there is a stochastic wind forcing in the system. We are looking at a multi-stage stochastic optimization using stochastic dynamic programming. I am also working on publishing a paper on my Masters project on efficient sensor network placement in a watershed. 

3. Of those research projects-what are you specific daily duties?

My specific daily duties for the hydro project is modifying of the SDP optimization code in Matlab, and creating a power production model of the hydropower system using real flow and wind data from a hydropower system in the Pacific Northwest. 

4. What has been your biggest accomplishment at Cornell?

I would say that my biggest accomplishment so far has been to achieve a good work-life balance. In graduate school work is always there in one form or another, like research, writing papers, making presentations, sometimes juggling multiple research projects and of course coursework. I feel like graduate students have a tendency to work very hard up until a certain point where they burn out and have to force themselves to take a break. It was tough for me as well for the first couple of years, but I think now, in my fourth year, I have finally found a good way to work hard, but also to make a priority in eating healthful food, exercising, reading something other than research papers, and meditation. 

5. What inspired you to pursue a degree in Engineering?

My mom is a math teacher and my dad is a civil engineer, so I was quite influenced by the both of them growing up. My father used to bring my mom, my brother and I to all his dam sites when I was growing up and we would picnic by the river. I think that was what influenced me to like water. When I was applying to colleges, I decided to follow in his footsteps and do Civil and Environmental Engineering as my major with a focus on hydrology. 

6. What are your plans after graduation?

I'm keeping my options open by looking at both academic and research jobs as well as jobs in the industry, possibly for a utility or an engineering consulting firm. 

7. What are some of your extra-curricular activities?

I am currently in taking a counselling course with EARS (Empathy, Assistance, and Referral Service), and hoping to become a certified EARS counselor by the end of the academic year. Other than that, in warmer weather I enjoy the Ithacan outdoors by hiking, mountain biking and running, while the golf course is fantastic for cross country skiing when there is snow on the ground.