BIO
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1985, Lesa Tran Lu was born as the youngest of three children to Vietnamese immigrant parents. Growing up in the United States, her parents worked in various convenience stores and gas stations, until eventually saving enough money to open their own convenience store. Following, Tran’s parents would open a fortune cookie factory, co-own the Welcome Food Center, and now, currently own the only Asian market in College Station. From young, Tran’s parents emphasized work ethic, financial stability, and even encouraged Tran to open a business of her own. In her schooling years, Tran attended school in Fort Bend ISD, learned English through her school environment, and became interested in chemistry in high school after attending a summer course at Rice University. Following high school graduation, Tran earned her bachelor’s, master’s and a doctoral degree in chemistry at Rice University. Throughout her time at Rice, Tran developed passions for teaching and research, and in 2012, she accepted a position to stay as a teaching faculty member at Rice. Outside of teaching, she became extensively involved at Rice, working as a divisional advisor and associate for the School of Natural Sciences at Rice’s residential colleges, and becoming a residential associate (RA) at Sid Richardson College. Currently, Tran serves as executive director and associate teaching professor of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, a member of several university committees, and a faculty sponsor to multiple student organizations and student-taught courses. Tran is married with two daughters. In this interview, Tran discusses her parents’ backgrounds and immigration experience, her difficulties managing various languages and dialects, her hardships being first gen in the American college system, being a woman in STEM, her thoughts on general chemistry courses today and teaching, the necessity of interdisciplinary teamwork and curiosity, her involvement at Rice, her “Chemistry of Cooking” class and recipes, working at IBB, winning teaching awards at Rice, her ethnic identity, pushing for equal representation, the balance between teaching and research in higher education, and the legacy she wishes to leave behind to her students.