Xiao Wei, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of biology, and the only botanist at the University of Guam.

Before Wei began teaching at UOG, she was a graduate student at the University of Texas as Austin. At UT, she conducted research and taught other grad students while completing her dissertation.

“My life was pretty much running between classrooms and doing research for my labs,” Wei said.

Before choosing biology as her graduate studies, she was previously a chemistry major. She studied medicinal plants and analyzed their chemical components.

To analyze their chemical components, Wei was required to do field work to collect medicinal plants. This exposed her to more biology concepts.

“That’s where I was hooked,” Wei said.

She remembers the specific date, Aug.18, 2014, the day she began teaching at UOG. Before Wei arrived at UOG, there was no one teaching plant biology.

She is currently teaching two sections of environmental biology and has previously taught botanical courses, like plant taxonomy and plant diversity.

“Biology is exciting,” Wei said. She explains that it can tell stories. These stories can unravel history, a person’s current life, and how one should live responsibly in the future.

One of Wei’s goals as an instructor is to have her students gain the basic training in biology, like the basic foundations in biology.

Wei points out that a student does not have to be an expert, but a student should at least know how to improve themselves.

She explains that a class that is not interesting will result in students ignoring the subject.

“You have to have the passion for it. In my class, it’s very important for me to show my passion and interest in my teaching subject first,” Wei said.

Next semester, Wei is excited to be teaching scientific writing for the first time.