Tian He

2007-2009

Tian He was awarded a Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering with Honors in 2009. Describing his experiences in Chico, Tian said:

"Upon receiving the Chico-China Graduate Scholarship, I flew across the Pacific and landed in Chico. I still remember the first time I wandered in downtown Chico when there were only a few people around—everybody would say hi or smile. I still remember the first time I taught Chinese to students only in their second level, how passionate I was talking about a sophisticated study plan as if they were to devote ten years of their lives to it (in my defense at least one of them decided to pursue a degree in Chinese later on ). I still remember the first time I taught a laboratory, how I frankly told the students that I was a little bit nervous and how their understanding smiles eased my mind. I still remember the first time I went to Mount Lassen, how excited I was when I saw a miniature squirrel-like creature—a chipmunk. The first time I swam in Big Chico Creek, the first time I rode a bike to Sacramento River, the first time I carved a pumpkin, the first time I played disk-golf in Upper Bidwell Park… There are just too many sweet memories.

In my two years in Chico, I attended two international conferences, one in Detroit, the other in Boston; I joined a research project that focuses on high speed and low cost simulation; somehow I managed to get a 4.0 GPA; my understanding towards principles of science and engineering has been greatly deepened.

My Master’s Thesis is titled Radio Frequency Power Amplifier Design for High Efficiency and High Linearity. Radio Frequency power amplifiers (RFPAs) are widely used in wireless communications. When you talk via your mobile phone, the signal that carries the information of your voice is sent out from your phone to the tower, from tower to tower, and finally reaches the other mobile phone. Each and every step involves a RFPA—that is how our voices can reach thousands of miles away, through amplifications. It is very important to design the RFPA with high efficiency (so that less energy is wasted) and high linearity (so that the transmitted signal is less distorted). This thesis work provided new ideas that could help do so.

Now, upon my graduation, looking back on these two years, I guess I can say that I have lived two exciting and rewarding years owing to the scholarship.  I sincerely wish the future recipients an even better life in Chico."