Gialan

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Gialan (“Ya-LAN) started studying piano at the age of four with his father. During his youth studies, he earned the privilege to study under Dr. Ching Ming Cheng, Associate Professor of Music at the California State University, San Marcos. Under her tutelage, he achieved the Advanced Level of Certificate of Merit at the age of 11 and achieved competition honors including 1st prize at the Music Teachers’ Association of California Concerto Competition and the final rounds of both the Los Angeles Young Artists’ Piano Competition and San Jose International Piano Competition. He is a May 2025 graduate of the University of California, Irvine double-majoring in Piano Performance and Film/Media Studies. Under the tutelage of UCI Piano Professor Dr. Lorna Griffitt, he is the recipient of both the Majorie and Robert Rawlins Scholarship and UCI’s Regents Scholarship. He was chosen to perform in masterclass by Daniel Adam Maltz and Dr. Sarkis Baltaian. Gialan is excited to pursue his passion for teaching piano and music theory at Roos! 

Outside of his pursuit in the arts, Gialan enjoys a lively passion in engineering robotics projects when he served as president and project director for four distinct engineering student organizations (2 of which he founded), all of which constitute the ‘ZOTBotics’ Network at UCI’. Spanning across various applications of robotics such as 3D printers, combat robots, radio-controlled drones, and personal electric vehicles, the home operation and storage base Gialan also established stands as UCI’s first ever student-sustained makerspace workshop facility for future generations of students to come and enjoy ‘fun engineering’.