print version

PPIA Fellows/Alumni Profile

Impact of PPIA Program:

PPIA's impact upon my life accumulates long after the institute. It has helped me build a network of friends who are passionate about serving the public, domestic and internationally. For example, I ran into two of my fellow PPIA cohort at Teach for America Summer Institute in Houston this year, and the three of us are all going to low-income schools around the South to teach. Ten or twenty years down the road, I know that I will work together with those I have met in PPIA to better our society.

Biography:

Lin Yang is currently an Algebra II, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus teacher at Central High School in West Helena, Arkansas. He attained this job through Teach for America, a program that places college graduates in low income schools around the US, committing at least two years to teaching. As a math teacher, he is responsible for getting his students' academic standards up to par with those of the State of Arkansas and preparing them for college. Although the job requires a lot of hard work, the benefits are just as great!

After the PPIA Junior Summer Institute, Lin spent one semester finishing up college, and then traveled to China for four months to work at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He conducted research there on sustainable water resource usage as part of a major research project on sustainable urbanization in China, translated for field research trips, and edited academic journal submissions. Lin spent his vacation time there riding camels in Mongolia and lighting fireworks in the middle of Nanjing city.

When he came back to the United States, he started his term with Teach for America. Lin currently lives in Helena, Arkansas.

Awards and Memberships:

Teach for America Corps - Mississippi Delta
Quill and Dagger Senior Honor Society - Cornell, 113th Class
Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow - Michigan, 2003
Cornell Tradition Fellow - Cornell, 2001-2004
Rice Award for Oral Communication - Cornell, 2004
Vision New America DC Intern - Summer 2003
Robinson Award for Academic Excellence - Cornell, 2003
College of Human Ecology Dean's List - Cornell, 2001-2004

Advice and/or Recommendations:

Take a couple of years to work before entering into a master's program. Not only does this give you some income and a break from school, but it will help focus your passion so that graduate school will be much more purposeful.

Contact Information: lyang82@gmail.com