Hi, I'm Ming!
I’m a tenure-track Assistant Teaching Professor at UC San Diego, in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Before joining UCSD, I received my PhD from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. As a teaching-focused faculty member, my primary role (and passion) is teaching and designing undergraduate courses. I also conduct education research to characterize student reasoning and visual literacy in chemistry, and I develop curricular materials to equip biologists with programming and quantitative skills. I love being in the classroom, and I care deeply about building a culture of joy and inclusion in my classes.
Email: ymy@ucsd.edu
Tentative teaching schedule
Fall 2025
BIPN 100 Human Physiology I
Fall 2025
BIPN 103 Human Anatomy w/ Lab
Winter 2026
BILD 5 Data Analysis & Design for Biologists
Winter 2026
BIPN 100 Human Physiology I
Spring 2026
BIPN 100 Human Physiology I
Spring 2026
BIPN 103 Human Anatomy w/ Lab
News
Aug 2025
Heidi, my first undergraduate research mentee at UCSD, presented her research at the Summer Research Conference (SRC)! Heidi's project explored how students reconcile their conflicting disciplinary ideas about chemical bonding.
Mar 2025
Our paper about visual representations of bonding and energy is published in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED).
Jan 2025
I gave a talk at SABER West on how visual representations of ATP shape students' chemical reasoning.
Jan 2025
I started my first quarter teaching at UCSD! This quarter, I'm teaching BIPN 100 (Human Physiology I). You can find more about my current and future course offerings here.
May 2024
I defended my PhD thesis and graduated from MIT! My thesis was entitled "Myelination diseases of the central nervous system: Artificial Axons as in vitro models of chemomechanical cues".
May 2024
Our paper about developing an online course on cell therapy manufacturing was published in Advances in Physiology Education.
July 2023
I gave a talk at the SABER Annual Meeting on how biologists and chemists use conflicting visual representations for energy and bonding.
July 2023
I presented a poster at the European Glial Meeting, entitled "Myelin ensheathment and drug response of oligodendrocytes is modulated by artificial axon stiffness".