A system of chemical rings meets a system of mechanical gears — seemingly unrelated at first glance. The former, carefully drawn with precise hexagonal edges, and the latter, assembled in a mosaic of rough ridges, intertwine with senior Tiffany Gu’s interests in chemistry and robotics. As Tiffany immerses herself in hands-on approaches to science and technology, she keeps the community around her at the core of her work.

Entering high school, Tiffany was unsure of where her interests lay, and it was not until her sophomore year honors chemistry class that Tiffany became regularly exposed to hands-on labs.

“I remember doing the labs and I thought that organic chemistry is definitely different from the other science subjects, because it’s so much more interactive and very problem-solving based,” Tiffany said. “The specific part of organic chemistry that interests me is how it’s super unique in that it’s like a puzzle and you have to cut your own puzzle pieces and assemble them.”

Finding this aspect of organic chemistry intriguing, she began investing more of her time in the field. Spending close to thirty hours a week at a local lab, Tiffany worked on both natural product research and medicinal chemistry research. Throughout, she set up experiments and characterized compounds using several spectroscopy methods to investigate the mechanisms behind the compounds.  

Inside the lab, Tiffany quickly found herself amongst equally enthusiastic peers, including lab partner Alice Tao (‘24), who helped Tiffany familiarize herself with the high demands of research. Alice’s mentorship inspired Tiffany to develop similar leadership qualities herself, like taking time to acknowledge others rather than confining herself to her own bubble. 

“There’s always a cycle of new members when it comes to research, and it’s sometimes really hard to juggle, whether you want to train those people or prioritize your own project,” Tiffany said. “It was really admirable that Alice took the time to teach me as she was doing things.”

Tiffany’s attitude of selflessness reflects in her friendships outside her work as well. Close friend senior Mirabelle Feng often kayaks with Tiffany at Shoreline Park — a tradition that dates back to freshman year. She cherishes Tiffany’s approachability and compassion.

“Tiffany has a really observant way of looking at the people around her, so she really understands her friends,” Mirabelle said. “Whenever I’m having a hard time with something, I know that I can always go talk to her about it because of how calm and collected she is.”

Tiffany tackles the self-proclaimed “daunting subject” of organic chemistry with composure, approaching even the unfamiliar with curiosity. The influx of new information was overwhelming at first, but she has come to appreciate the process, specifically in repurposing knowledge from failed experiments. 

“I’ve always seen hands-on research as invigorating, because you get to actually work with the thing you’re researching,” Tiffany said. “In organic chemistry, you truly get to control each of the variables in your experiment, and tracking down the errors and knowing how you can improve in the future makes you a better scientist.”

Chemistry teacher Casey Brown, who taught Tiffany for her junior year organic chemistry class, first overheard her having a discussion about nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in colleague and chemistry teacher Mala Raghavan’s classroom. Having researched NMR in graduate school himself, Dr. Brown immediately found Tiffany’s interest in the topic commendable, as he rarely saw that level of understanding of organic chemistry from high school students. 

“Tiffany is not someone who will raise her hand constantly and participate in discussion, but she’s perched on the edge of her chair,” Dr. Brown said. “Sometimes I’ll say something and nobody else has any idea to be excited about it, and she perks her ears up and knows to ask something interesting. It’s like having a college student in class sometimes.”

Beyond the lab, Tiffany’s desire for collaborative work flourished during her time on Harker’s Robotics team. Starting out as Outreach Director in her sophomore year, she quickly discovered the power of communication in such a technical field. 

“I think more often than not it comes down to people’s problems, and when that happens, it’s hard to pull things together in such a short time frame,” Tiffany said. “When these challenges arise, it’s really good to talk with other leaders in the group and to solve the issue from the ground up.”

As Operations President since last year, Tiffany broadened her leadership qualities, ensuring cooperation and organization between all members of the team and parts of the process. She especially found purpose in passing on her enthusiasm for robotics to others, showcasing Harker’s robots to newcomers and parents at events like Research Symposium, Harker Day and Back to School Day. 

“Oftentimes when you showcase robots, that’s what gets kids interested, because it’s something they’ve never really seen before — it’s something dystopian almost,” Tiffany said. “Through that, I’ve needed to talk to a lot of children, adopt their language and adopt what they’re doing. It’s nice to see how those kids grow from being students who are pushed into doing robotics to students who actually want to do robotics.”

The intersection between robotics and organic chemistry boils down to one key aspect for Tiffany: figuring out the next step. 

Whether it be joining forces to fix a malfunction with the robot or avoiding human error in the lab, she finds herself amidst a sea of imposing obstacles in both fields. Tiffany draws on her experiences as a leader for her answers, internalizing past mentors’ advice to tackle the tasks at hand. 

“Sometimes when you’re too carried away with the thing that you’re so passionate about, it’s hard to take a step back and realize that you need to be sharing this information with others,” Tiffany said. “Through all the errors, although it’s really demoralizing at times, it provides a lot more insight as to how the entire thing functions and then from there you can know what to do next.”

Tiffany’s skill of digging out useful knowledge during times of experimental failure caught close friend senior Kaitlyn Su’s eye. While they met in middle school, the two grew close as lab partners in their freshman physics class, forming an interest not only in physics but also in discovering new intricacies within science together. 

“I admire that she’s truly curious and very driven to learn about things that she enjoys,” Kaitlyn said. “I see the way she works really hard in robotics and chemistry, and it inspires me to really try to learn about the concepts that I like too.”

Channeling intellectual inquisitiveness, Tiffany holds her experience in both chemistry and robotics key to her identity, while also prioritizing engagement with her peers inside these different yet connected fields.  

“In my freshman year, I joined so many clubs and then dropped half of them — that’s a natural part of high school and discovering what you actually want to do,” Tiffany said. “But in that mix, you should leave time for yourself and have those intimate experiences with other people and form long-lasting friendships. That’s what underscores all the things you do in life.”