BIO
Han Pu was born in Wuxi, China in 1973. His parents were both college-educated and employed at a shipyard, where his father was an engineer and his mother a technical school teacher. Influenced in part by his parents' STEM background and his country’s heightened respect for knowledge after the Cultural Revolution, Pu was drawn towards science from an early age. His learning was also accelerated: he began school two years early, at the age of five, and by his second year of high school, he had already taken the college entrance exam under a special program with the University of Science and Technology of China. Thus, Pu entered university at the age of 15 in 1988. He decided to major in physics, as he enjoyed the logical, derivational aspect of this field. Notably, his time in college was filled with civic unrest, as student-led protests calling for freedom and democracy grew, leading him and other classmates to participate in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. Pu recalls witnessing hunger strikes and violence, and learning of the enormity of lives lost. However, at his young age, the gravity of this historical event was only fully comprehended later in life. In 1992, Pu came to the US to further his education, pursuing an M.S. in physics at the University of Rochester. After encountering Americans who were friendly and willing to help him, he began to deconstruct the negative and selfish perception of the West that he had been taught in China. He also recalls the support that he received from older graduate students throughout his early years in Rochester. Although he initially faced a language barrier, Pu overcame this challenge by actively reading and conversing. After completing his master's, he went on to complete his Ph.D. in physics in 1999, also at the University of Rochester. During this time, Pu’s personal life bloomed—he married his wife, Wen Chen, and they moved to Tuscon, Arizona for his postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona. In Tuscon, the couple welcomed Christianity into their lives. In 2003, Pu took an Assistant professorship at Rice University in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and has stayed there ever since, becoming an Associate Professor in 2010 and a Full Professor in 2016. As a professor, he emphasizes the importance of understanding, respecting, and valuing his students as equals, and continues to stay in touch with many students after they graduate. Aside from his career, Pu and his wife have raised two children, Helen and Henry. He continues to instill in them the values of independence and choice that his parents gave him, and prioritizes being present for his children. In this interview, Han Pu speaks about growing up in a socially transformative period in China, pursuing his dream of becoming a physicist and a professor, and raising a warm and loving family. Included is a follow-up interview focusing specifically on his experiences with the Tiananmen Square protests.