Class Note 2017
Issue
November-December 2023
Since graduation Richard Shen has been living across the pond. Rich spent the first two years after graduation at the University of Cambridge studying machine learning and machine intelligence. His master’s program continued his passion in machine learning, which he initially explored at Dartmouth.
After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Rich began working in London to tackle the problem of driverless vehicles. He enjoys the technical and complex nature of the work, and he is optimistic that driverless technology will break through in the roughly 10-year timeframe.
Overall, Rich enjoys living in England. He has been comfortable living abroad because he found a nice community of friends through his work. His coworkers often hang out outside of work, possibly because many of them are expats as well. Rich also described a form of detachment being abroad because he is less directly tied into the pressures and comparisons that might arise when living in the United States.
Rich is grateful for the opportunity to live abroad. By experiencing a new culture, he has a new perspective on what can be considered normal or not normal. Rich particularly appreciates the Brits’ emphasis on free time and leisure. Compared to the United States, he feels a slower pace of life and more appreciation of craftsmanship. Rich also felt that moving abroad was a form of starting over since he did not know anyone in the United Kingdom before he moved.
Rich experienced the outburst of the Covid pandemic while in London. The United Kingdom was strict about Covid lockdowns in the initial six months but became less strict through time. It was during Covid that Rich became close with his community of friends, since others were likewise seeking community during those uncertain times.
When reflecting on Dartmouth, Rich most appreciates the friends he made in Hanover. His fondest memory was of staying in a cabin by the river just before graduation. At the cabin Rich and his friends chatted around a campfire and reflected on their time at Dartmouth. Rich is grateful that he and his friends took that moment to sit back amid that period of transition.
—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com
After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Rich began working in London to tackle the problem of driverless vehicles. He enjoys the technical and complex nature of the work, and he is optimistic that driverless technology will break through in the roughly 10-year timeframe.
Overall, Rich enjoys living in England. He has been comfortable living abroad because he found a nice community of friends through his work. His coworkers often hang out outside of work, possibly because many of them are expats as well. Rich also described a form of detachment being abroad because he is less directly tied into the pressures and comparisons that might arise when living in the United States.
Rich is grateful for the opportunity to live abroad. By experiencing a new culture, he has a new perspective on what can be considered normal or not normal. Rich particularly appreciates the Brits’ emphasis on free time and leisure. Compared to the United States, he feels a slower pace of life and more appreciation of craftsmanship. Rich also felt that moving abroad was a form of starting over since he did not know anyone in the United Kingdom before he moved.
Rich experienced the outburst of the Covid pandemic while in London. The United Kingdom was strict about Covid lockdowns in the initial six months but became less strict through time. It was during Covid that Rich became close with his community of friends, since others were likewise seeking community during those uncertain times.
When reflecting on Dartmouth, Rich most appreciates the friends he made in Hanover. His fondest memory was of staying in a cabin by the river just before graduation. At the cabin Rich and his friends chatted around a campfire and reflected on their time at Dartmouth. Rich is grateful that he and his friends took that moment to sit back amid that period of transition.
—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com