Piano virtuoso Tian Tian, a student from Beijing, China, and 2000 graduate of the high school affiliated with the People's University of China, is valedictorian of Union College's Class of 2005.
She is the daughter of Haiyan Wang and Xiaorong Tian.
She earned a bachelor's degree with a major in biochemistry and a minor in economics.
Tian said she chose to study in America “since the United States has the most advanced technology and cutting-edge knowledge in the field of biology.”
As for choosing Union, she cited the College's reputation in biology and chemistry. “My guidance counselor highly recommended it for its small size and close student-professor relationship,” she said.
Celebrated as a pianist virtuoso by both faculty and students, Tian was awarded the Hollander Convocation Musician Prize at Founders Day this year. She played Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu Op. 66. The award was established and presented by Lawrence J. Hollander, former dean of engineering at the College. The prize is awarded annually to a musician or ensemble.
Tian is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and Omicron Delta Epsilon, the National Honor Society for Economics. In May 2005, she received the Robert M. Fuller Prize for the senior in chemistry who has shown unusual ability in original experimental work.
She earned the Union College Summer Research Fellowship; the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society Award; the Pfizer Summer Undergraduate Chemistry Research Fellowship; and the Robert M. Fuller Prize for the sophomore whose work for the first two years in the Chemistry Department has given the greatest promise for a successful career. She was runner-up of the second annual Chopin Piano Competition (Master Chopin Level) at the Blessed Virgin Mary of Czestochowa Church (Latham), and she received the Seward Interdisciplinary Fellowship.
Tian will pursue her Ph.D. in molecular cellular biology at Harvard University this fall.