When Carol Miu was a girl, her father, Patrick Miu, instilled in her a love of physics. Later in life, she returned to that interest as an adult learner at 56�Թ��� Bothell. &�Բ�����;

A shared love of learning

Patrick Miu was a lifelong learner and a renaissance man. He was born and raised in Hong Kong before moving to New York as an international student, where he completed degrees in computer science and statistics at Stony Brook University. He stayed in the United States and worked as a software engineer for various banks before becoming a stay-at-home dad to his three children. 

“I had a copy of Newsweek that came in the mail in fall 1989. I kept that issue for years and years, because I thought Neptune was so beautiful.” 

“He got me into all sorts of stuff when I was a kid,” Carol Miu said. “He had me reading the Wall Street Journal — the whole thing — by the time I was 8 years old. He taught me about the stock market, advanced math, circuits and electronics.” 

Miu said she was even taught how to solder by her father, and with his guidance, she learned computer programming in BASIC, Java, and R. 

One of her father’s main interests was physics and trying to understand what was left to learn about the universe, she recalled. He was fascinated by the research of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking and shared his interest with his children. 

One memory that stands out to Miu is watching the science TV show NOVA on PBS in the late ’80s with her father. Together they learned about the Voyager 2 spacecraft and saw pictures of Neptune sent back through space. “I had a copy of Newsweek that came in the mail in fall 1989. I kept that issue for years and years, because I thought Neptune was so beautiful.”

A move away from science and back

A decade later, Carol Miu started college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, still unsure of what path to follow. As part of the college’s requirements, all undergraduates had to take classes in physics. Despite doing well in those classes, Miu decided to pursue economics instead. At the time, Miu said, there was a lot of sexism in the hard sciences, and after being bullied by a teaching assistant, she believed the physics department wouldn’t be a welcoming place for her. 

After graduating from MIT, Miu pursued a career that included roles as a marketing lecturer, litigation consultant and product manager. This eventually led to her working for mobile games developer PeopleFun where she helped create the popular Wordscapes app.  

Then came a life-altering day in fall 2012 that Miu said she still remembers clearly: Her father had a brain aneurysm that left him physically and mentally impaired. The date — September  14 — continued to have significance for Miu as each year thereafter she and her father celebrated his survival. 

On that day in 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves in space at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. By September of 2020, Miu was researching those same waves from LIGO.  

“I thought that was really significant because of the alignment of the dates.” Miu said. “One was a tragedy, and one was such an amazing scientific discovery exactly three years later. But also, he was the one who called it to my attention, and approximately five years after that I was doing computational physics to research that very phenomenon.

“Everything connected in a way that was harmonious.”

The winding journey to 56�Թ��� Bothell

Patrick Miu passed away in 2017, and when the COVID pandemic struck, Carol Miu was looking for a way to heal from his passing. She was stuck at home in Texas and missing her father. Learning physics seemed like the best way to honor him. 

She started with remote classes at a community college, but soon a friend, Jack Bayley (Physics ’20), introduced her to Joey Key, an associate professor at 56�Թ��� Bothell — and the connection made all the difference. 

Key told her: “No physics experience? No problem. No funding? No problem. Not enrolled? No problem. You can do data science. You can do Python programming. I’m going to put you in my gravitational wave research group!” 

By summer 2020, Miu had started working with Key and Ansel Neunzert on undergraduate research that would automatically flag line noise (narrow spectral artifacts) in LIGO data. Miu continued to work at PeopleFun, supporting the research in her spare time. Then in 2022, she was promoted to the firm’s CEO position.  

Miu said she enjoyed the challenge of running the company but wanted a change that would enable her to focus more on her own learning and growth. This led to her decision to resign from her position as CEO in 2023 to pursue physics full-time, moving across the country to enroll in 56�Թ��� Bothell’s Physics major. 

Physics research at 56�Թ��� Bothell

While pursuing her new undergraduate degree, Miu continued her computational research with Key and Neunzert. 

Key is “not only a trailblazer in gravitational wave astronomy,” Miu said, “but is the strongest advocate for students I have ever seen.” 

“[Joey Key] is not only a trailblazer in gravitational wave astronomy but is the strongest advocate for students I have ever seen.” 

And Neunzert, she said, is “the best science communicator I have ever met. They can think for 5 seconds and explain anything clearly. It’s really a gift.” 

Nearing the end of her degree work, Miu switched her research focus to electronics. She teamed up with fellow student Joey Del Gianni and lecturer Subramanian Ramachandran to design and build an open-source device that allows students to measure the speed of light. The speed of light lab kits are usually $10,000 each, Miu noted, but with their design science teachers can make their own version for under $200. 

Miu so appreciated Ramachandran’s mentorship that she nominated him for an Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor award, which he won in May 2025. As Miu recalled, he has the same experimental spirit that her father had. “I love his hands-on learning approach in which I was supposed to tinker and make mistakes while learning.”

An endowment for physics 

After graduating from 56�Թ��� Bothell in March 2025, Miu decided she wanted to give back to the University to honor her father’s love of physics and to show gratitude to the Division of Physics. She established the Miu Endowment for Physics in June 2025 in support of student education and research. 

When she wondered what her father would say about her getting a degree in physics, Miu said, “I think he’d be surprised and proud. I don’t think he would have predicted that I would have chosen this route or to honor him in this way. I think he would have had a very good, long, proud laugh over it.” 

Miu said that for her part she wants “to stuff as many lives as I can into this one life” and hopes to go to culinary school next — even while she keeps physics close to her heart. She has already passed on her love of science to her 10-year-old daughter who wants to be a “space chef” when she grows up. 

She said she also knows that, in her many “lives” still to come, 56�Թ��� Bothell will play a big part.  

“I think 56�Թ��� Bothell is just a part of my life forever now. I’m really feeling that sense of belonging here. I feel like we’re family.”

Support 56�Թ��� Bothell students as they research our universe by  &�Բ�����;

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When alumna Claire Truongdang, Biochemistry ’24, started at 56�Թ��� Bothell, she wasn’t sure what to expect from college.

Having moved from Vietnam years earlier, she and her family were unfamiliar with the application process. With help from someone at her high school, she applied to 56�Թ��� Bothell because it was close to home and easy for her family to access.

Once at 56�Թ��� Bothell, she started in psychology but changed course after her mother faced serious health issues. “I just wanted to understand what she was going through,” Truongdang said.

It was then a chemistry course with Dr. Brandon Finley that sparked a new passion. “He changed my life,” she said. “He made me want to spend my whole day thinking about chemistry.”

With his encouragement, she switched to biochemistry and found a new direction in college and in a career.

Doors to research and opportunity

Through 56�Թ��� Bothell, Truongdang gained access to resources across the University of Washington. She joined the Maternal-Fetal Research Lab at 56�Թ��� Medicine, mentored by Dr. Stephen McCartney and Dr. Raj Shree, where she studied how pregnancy may unlock new insights into diseases like cancer and knowledge about human parturition mechanisms.

“Pregnancy is often seen as an invasion — like a tumor — but the body tolerates it,” she said. “Understanding that could help us find cures.”

Even after graduation, she has continued research with Dr. McCartney and Dr. Shree, exploring her interest in both science and social impact, especially in reproductive health care. “Pregnancy research is so underexplored,” she said. “It’s more than just uteruses, vulvas and vaginas. It can teach us about cancer, cardiovascular disease and more.”

While her lab work as a student took place at the 56�Թ��� in Seattle, Truongdang said the foundation she built at 56�Թ��� Bothell was essential. “Our campus feels small, but it opens doors across the 56�Թ���,” she said.

She credited Dr. Finley for inspiring her academic shift, Dr. Marc Servetnick for helping her secure research funding from the Associated Students of the 56�Թ��� Bothell and Dr. Brian White for connecting underrepresented students (including her sister) to internship opportunities at 56�Թ��� Medicine and other labs in Seattle.

Support that shaped her future

Now working full time in the 56�Թ��� Medicine lab while preparing to apply to M.D.-Ph.D. programs, Truongdang said she hopes eventually to lead her own lab, advance research that improves lives and support patients through complex health decisions just like her current mentors.

In addition to the support of faculty, this path was made possible through financial support, including the 56�Թ��� Bothell Alumni Endowed Scholarship and the Worthington Scholarship.

When her mother was laid off, the extra support helped her continue her studies. “That summer, those scholarships reduced the financial burden on our family’s budget by not having the added expenses of school.”

To the alumni who fund scholarships through efforts like the 56�Թ��� Bothell Husky 5K, Truongdang offered heartfelt thanks. “It’s not about big, flashy gifts,” she said. “It’s about giving back to the communities we came from. That kind of awareness is the highest level of giving.”

Despite the challenges, Truongdang found her voice — and it is clear, focused and grounded in purpose.

Like Claire, every student has a story full of potential, challenges and discovery. Giving to 56�Թ��� Bothell helps unlock opportunities for students to find their path and pursue their future with confidence.

The post From 56�Թ��� Bothell to 56�Թ��� Medicine  appeared first on Give to 56�Թ��� Bothell.

56�Թ��� Bothell lecturer Joe Decuir, a computing industry veteran, is helping future engineers through a generous gift supporting students in engineering and computing. With decades of experience in computer engineering and video game technology, Decuir’s contributions inside and outside the classroom are shaping the next generation of innovators.
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