What’s your name?
Chenziheng “Allen” Weng
What’s your job title?
Biostatistician
Where's your hometown?
Fuzhou – a coastal capital city in southeastern China with many historical sites.
What kind of projects do you work on at GPH?
As Biostatistician, I help public health scientists validate their observations to be reliably true rather than randomly true. And I design stylish tables and figures to present research findings.
My supervisor – Prof. Don Des Jarlais – focuses on research regarding harm reduction and behavioral prevention strategies for people who use drugs (like enabling non-injecting users to avoid initiation of injection and reduce HIV risk). We work in a lovely research team. My colleagues are senior investigators, epidemiologists, project directors, and student assistants. They often tell me the most vivid stories behind the numbers I work with.
In my extra time, I collaborate with professors and students at GPH on a variety of study projects such as stressors for minority and social media use behaviors.
How long have you been at NYU?
Eight months being a statistician plus two years being a master’s biostatistics student at GPH.
Who at NYU do you know that you think we should know? Why?
Dr. Mari Armstrong-Hough, and EdD. Julie Avina. They are educators – my way of saying the most beautiful, trustworthy, and admirable persons.
If folks need a public health professor to ask about broad topics and grow understandings of things, Dr. Mari – as we call her – is a good person to talk to. She is eloquent while superbly warm-hearted. She teaches the Research Method course and is a fruitful epidemiologist.
Julie, the chief of GPH’s student experience, is for folks who need to learn to live a life and balance work and play (me being one). If you get through her everlasting humbleness, you will keep getting amazed by what a spectacular and all-round player she is.
What are you reading right now?
I feel like I have used my eyes too much for my work. So I am taking the liberty of saying what I am listening to right now instead –they are the same activities to me.
Schubert's 6 Moments musicaux (by Alfred Brendel). Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 (by Claudio Abbado), and Chopin’s Waltzes (by Alice Sara Ott). Plus several old Rock albums.
Coffee or Tea?
I’m a big tea guy, but also drink coffee in the morning. You would easily find Allen’s desk with his feature teapot that he used to brew tea every day.
What inspires you?
The Buddha.
Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” campaign. The Matrix. The Newsroom.