{"id":16513,"date":"2020-01-08T11:35:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T11:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=16513"},"modified":"2023-06-08T18:27:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T18:27:14","slug":"alumni-eric-chen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen","title":{"rendered":"STEM alum influences future engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"alumni<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Sean Park
\nEric Chen loved playing video games and building computers when he was growing up. This passion led to two internships at Microsoft while he was still in high school \u2014 one as a software test engineer and one as a web developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat experience fed my natural curiosity to learn a little about everything,\u201d said Chen, a 2005 University of Washington Bothell graduate who got a degree in Computing & Software Systems. \u201cI returned to Microsoft after I graduated from the UW Bothell, and I\u2019m still learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying it forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chen chose to attend the School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics at UW Bothell in part because its focus on interdisciplinary education matched his desire for breadth. Additionally, the flexible schedule allowed him to work full time while attending college. That in turn helped him achieve his personal goal of graduating without any debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After moving to the United States from Taiwan when he was 4 years old, Chen watched his father create a better life for his family by first going to college. When they were struggling financially, Chen\u2019s father received various scholarships that helped him through school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family and I would not be in the position we are in now if my father had not received those scholarships. I will never forget that,\u201d Chen said. \u201cBeing a Christian, I\u2019ve been taught to bless others, for I have been blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To share his blessings, Chen has donated to UW Bothell\u2019s general scholarship fund for the past 15 years. \u201cFrom my experience, I know that too many students get caught up trying to support themselves financially,\u201d he said. \u201cIt causes them to divert their focus elsewhere rather than focusing on their education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I can help students eliminate that financial hurdle and get them back on track,\u201d Chen said, \u201cthen I will continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaping the future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Chen
Chen enjoys a breadth of experiences. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At Microsoft, Chen is on track in his pursuit to \u201clearn a little about a lot.\u201d Every two or three years, he takes the opportunity to change roles within the company. Currently, he\u2019s a principal software engineering lead in the Cloud + AI organization. His team empowers developers to find and fix issues through the use of telemetry to enhance the customer experience with the expanding suite of Microsoft products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are proud to have alumni like Eric making such a great impact in our region and across the world,\u201d said Sean Marsh, acting vice chancellor for Advancement & External Relations. \u201cThrough determination and drive, he has transformed his UW Bothell education into a very successful career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the fast pace of technology, Chen believes strongly that there are not enough software engineers to meet the global demand. Recalling his days as an intern, he volunteers for a Microsoft initiative that directly relates to preparing high school students for careers in tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designing to learn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Eric
Chen on one of his trips. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know many high school students who have not just one but two internships at a major corporation like Microsoft,\u201d said Marsh. \u201cEric is the type of alumnus who embodies the UW Bothell spirit of innovation and grit, and he\u2019s sharing that spirit with the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Microsoft\u2019s annual \u201cHunt the Wumpus\u201d game design competition, Chen and other Microsoft engineers guide students from local high schools to design, develop and test a coding project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing them go through the process rekindles the excitement I had for technology when I was their age,\u201d said Chen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

足彩app哪个是正规的 one difference, he added with a laugh, is that \u201ckids these days have it easy. When I was in high school, I had to go to a bunch of specialty stores to hunt for hardware I needed to build a computer. Now they can have the correct materials delivered right to their doorstep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology will continue to change and continue to change the world, said Chen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo make the right decisions regarding how we implement and use it, the industry needs more experts to be ahead of the curve. That\u2019s how we ensure we have good people in the right places shaping what the future with technology looks like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI need to do my part to inspire those people to learn as I have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Chen (Computing & Software Systems ’05) works as a software engineer lead at Microsoft and contributes to the UW Bothell scholarship fund because he knows financial aid helps students focus on their education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[209,245],"tags":[246],"school":[421],"class_list":["post-16513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-donors","tag-computer-science","school-school-of-stem"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":null,"link_2":null,"link_3":null,"link_4":null,"link_5":null},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":null,"button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nSTEM alum influences future engineers - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"STEM alum influences future engineers - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eric Chen (Computing & Software Systems ’05) works as a software engineer lead at Microsoft and contributes to the UW Bothell scholarship fund because he knows financial aid helps students focus on their education.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"STEM alum influences future engineers\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\"},\"wordCount\":727,\"keywords\":[\"computer science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Donors\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\",\"name\":\"STEM alum influences future engineers - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"STEM alum influences future engineers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Just another UW Bothell site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"STEM alum influences future engineers - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"STEM alum influences future engineers - News","og_description":"Eric Chen (Computing & Software Systems ’05) works as a software engineer lead at Microsoft and contributes to the UW Bothell scholarship fund because he knows financial aid helps students focus on their education.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen","og_site_name":"News","article_published_time":"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"STEM alum influences future engineers","datePublished":"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen"},"wordCount":727,"keywords":["computer science"],"articleSection":["Alumni","Donors"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen","name":"STEM alum influences future engineers - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-08T11:35:39+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-08T18:27:14+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2020\/01\/08\/alumni-eric-chen#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"STEM alum influences future engineers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Just another UW Bothell site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16513"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26240,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16513\/revisions\/26240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16513"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=16513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}