Lili He is department head in the Department of Food Science, director of Raman, IR and XRF Spectroscopy core facility and member of the Center for Personalized Health Monitoring.
IALS: Hi Lili, thank you for speaking with us today. We have a few questions for you so everyone on campus can get to know you better. How long have you been at UMass Amherst?
LH: I started in September 2012, so about 11.5 years.
IALS: Where did you grow up?
LH: Hangzhou, China, which is a very beautiful city in the south east part of China.
IALS: Does the love of science run in your family?
LH: Not really, I don't think they know what is science.
IALS: How long have you been teaching?
LH: I started to teach in September 2013, and my inaugural course is food chemistry 2 which teaches minor food components, food additives, adulterants, and chemical contaminants. Crafting this course from scratch was an invigorating challenge that allowed me to leverage my passion and expertise in this field.
IALS: What is more stressful, grant proposals, research, or teaching?
LH: In my experience, managing tasks becomes less stressful when there's sufficient time allocated. However, my current challenge lies in finding a delicate equilibrium between my professional responsibilities and my personal commitments. Balancing my roles as department head, director of the spectroscopy core facility, researcher, and course instructor with my role as a parent to two very active children participating in hockey and swimming demands meticulous planning and effective time management. Ensuring I meet both work obligations and family commitments without sacrificing quality in either is a continuous challenge that I'm actively navigating.
IALS: Assuming your research is widely successful, how will it impact society?
LH: My research focuses on the applications of spectroscopy to analyze a variety of substances (e.g. food, agricultural, environmental materials and contaminants). In 2019, I established a Raman, IR and XRF core facility, providing analytical services to help researchers on and off campus as well as industry users for material characterization and analytical development and problem solving. In essence, our core facility serves as a collaborative hub where researchers and industry partners converge to harness the analytical prowess of spectroscopy for a myriad of applications, ultimately driving innovation and problem-solving across diverse disciplines.
IALS: Who do you admire and why?
LH: When I was a postdoc at University of Minnesota, my role model is Professor Christy Haynes. She is now Department Head, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Chemistry at UMN. As a female faculty member, she epitomized the ideal I aspired to—a remarkable individual who not only excelled in her leadership and research endeavors but also adeptly balanced her professional commitments with her family life.
IALS: What are your interests when you are not a scientist?
LH: Right now, I enjoy being a hockey mom and a swim mom, cheering on my children as they flourish in their athletic pursuits. If there is any free time for myself (which is a luxury these days), I would like to do nothing or play video games. :)
IALS: Thank you so much Lili!