Tensang La

Teaching Portfolio & Syllabus: Creative Writing - Fiction

My teaching portfolio for my 'ENGL 287: Beginning Short Story Writing' class I taught at the Univ. of Washington - Seattle, in Fall 2023. Photo by Min An from Pixels

Teaching Portfolio & Syllabus: Undergraduate Composition

My teaching portfolio crafted for my training in 'ENGL 567: Approaches to Teaching Composition' at the Univ. of Washington - Seattle, in Fall 2022. Photo by Pexels.

Introduction to Public Speaking: Reading Package

The text for an 'Intro. to Public Speaking' course I taught over Summer '23 for TRIO Upward Bound Program at the Univ. of Washington - Seattle. Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

Proposal Poster: X-Ray Imaging of Strain & Magnetization at the Nanoscale

Synchrotron-based hard x-ray sources have enabled revolutionary breakthroughs for probing magnetism and strain at the nanoscale. Many of these advanced methods to study magnetism and strain are performed in the Bragg-diffraction geometry, offering the possibility of combining them into a single probe carrying dual information. For a ferromagnet, charge and magnetic diffraction peaks overlap in reciprocal space. A differential measurement of scattered intensities for left and right...

Project ‘Apple Wheel’ Recommendation Report

On March 31, 2013, following the ‘iPhone 5C episode’, we were commissioned to research on the possible courses Apple Inc. can pursue. We reviewed the history behind the iPhone 5C launch and related it with the sales performance. We then scrutinized the company’s milestones and studied its guiding philosophy. Our research evaluated Apple’s market-driven decisions, such as the iPhone 5C, and compared them with those emphasizing innovation, such as the iPod and the iTunes. We then assessed the...

Proposal for the Simpson Center of Humanities: 'The Sharpa from Kathmandu - a Novel'

'The Sharpa from Kathmandu' will be an anthology of narrative poems inspired by the Tibetan oral tradition. Many elements from the author’s own life as a Tibetan political asylee presently living in his third exile will inspire the events in the work; elements such as his lived experiences from surviving civil strife, refugee school, malnourishment, near-fatal epidemics, et cetera. The first part of the four, Book I: Song of Suffering, begins somewhere in the Tibetan Himalayas where Sharpa,...

Richter Memorial Fund Proposal on Project Titled: 'The Sharpa from Kathmandu - a Novel'

'The Sharpa from Kathmandu – a Novel' fictionalizes the many curious elements from my life as a Tibetan political asylee presently living in his third exile, his fourth home, in Portland, Oregon. Comprising of three parts, Volume One begins in the prison cells of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, sometime after the invasion and occupation of Tibet, 1959, by the People’s Liberation Army. The protagonist’s great granduncle, an employee of the Dalai Lama’s office, is incarcerated there but...

Tungsten-Encapsulated Gadolinium Nanoislands with Enhanced Magnetocaloric Response

We report a method for growing chemically pure, oxide-free, air-stable Gd nanoislands with enhanced magnetic properties. These nanoislands are grown by solid-state dewetting and are fully encapsulated in tungsten such that they remain stable in ambient environments. They display good crystalline properties with hexagonally close-packed crystal structure and strong preferential orientation. We show that the choice of substrate strongly affects their shape, crystal orientation, and magnetic...

How Defects & Strain Affect Local Magnetic Domain Formation in Epitaxial Gd Nano-islands

Understanding how magnetic ordering couples to electronic, structural and orbital degrees of freedom lies at the frontier of condensed matter physics. Key questions to investigate are how spins couple to the underlying atomic lattice order, and how this coupling evolves at phase changes, such as magneto-structural phase transitions. Often, elastic strain mediates the interaction between the magnetic and other degrees of freedom. During phase transitions, different magnetic phases can nucleate...

Investigation of the Effects of Structural Properties on the Magnetic Properties of Gd Nanocrystals

Elemental gadolinium (Gd) is one of the earliest known and most intensively studied magnetocaloric materials, yet little is known about the structural, magnetic, and thermal properties of Gd nanocrystals because of their tendency to oxidize. Here, we report on characterization of stable Gd nanocrystal samples grown by a sputter- coating, dewetting, and encapsulation process on various crystal substrates using x-ray diffraction, x-ray microscopy, electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy...

On the Next Evolution of Darwinism

To charge Darwin of rendering a partial picture of the natural world in his Origin is not merely unjust, it is antithetical to the very essence of science. But to not tinker around the edges of his ideas is equally absurd. Darwin the naturalist proposed a mechanism – evolution through natural selection – to account for the plethora of diverse lifeforms on earth. But he also assiduously avoided what he called the ‘far higher problem of the essence or origin of life’ (Darwin 1909, 1st ed,...

To Fertile Pythia - An ‘Elenchus’ on Socrates

Upon being informed by his faithful friend, Crito, that the necessary arrangements for his escape have already been made, Socrates refuses to leave prison. As a loyal citizen, he argues, he is bound to respect the law because of a commitment that he has willingly made. Even before presenting this argument, Socrates had earlier inquired, “When one has come to an agreement that is just with someone, should one fulfill it or cheat on it?” to which Crito had replied, “One should fulfill it”...

Reflections on Introspections

This book - 'Reflections on Introspections' - is an anthology of twelve essays. The first six delve into issues such as education for Tibetans in exile, politics and the environment. The remaining six explore the possible convergence of Modern Science and Buddhist Philosophy. It was published to commemorate the 50th Founding Anniversary of the first SOS Tibetan Children's Village School, Dharamsala, India. Cover design by Jamyang Tenzin.

China & India: A Tale of Two Anomalies

Economist Yukon Huang attributes China's meteoric economic growth to how 'not normal' it is. Here we see how India's economy stands out as even more 'abnormal'. Photo by Chuttersnap on Unsplash.

China & India - Pathways to Industrialization

China and India's tryst with industrialization - where they were, how they arrived to where they are - the challenges they face and the methods to address them are explored here. Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash.

China’s Belt & Road Initiative - Imperialism with Chinese Characteristics?

The initiative and the German Empire's colonial aspirations in the late 19th Century are compared. Image by Aaron Greenwood from Unsplash.

On Emptiness & Form: Claiming a Tibetan Voice (Masters Thesis Excerpt)

On Emptiness & Form is an introspection on the interdependent origination and sustenance of my storytelling. I explore my cultural identity and literary expression through the lens of my journey as a Tibetan political asylee. Excerpts from my memoir, Vanishing Homelands, where I chronicle my experiences navigating my three exiles in Nepal, India, and the United States, serve as scaffoldings for the essay by delving into the challenges of displacement, the enduring search for belonging, and...

The Living Fossil of Tibetan Culture

Of the many aspects salient to the Tibetan culture, that bestow upon it its singularly distinctive nature, is Lhamo or the Tibetan Opera. Perhaps no other aspect of the civilization owes more to, and has in turn deeply influenced, their unique heritage, the remoteness and inaccessibility of the ‘Roof of the World’ notwithstanding. Photo by Tenzin Jigme Taydeh.

Authenticating Anthropology

Drawing on the works of De Leon and Bejanaro et al., I am interested in exploring how anthropological research questions and methodologies have evolved in response to shifting global conditions. These conditions, which include technological advancements, political changes, and environmental crises, increasingly pose significant challenges to the discipline. I aim to examine the adaptation strategies within the field, advocating for diversity not only from a social justice standpoint but also...

The Three Books in James Joyce’s “Araby”

From the very beginning of Joyce’s “Araby,” the reader receives a rather somber portrayal of the neighborhood where the protagonist grew up. And as for his residence, the former tenant, a priest who died in the back drawing-room, left the waste room littered with papers & three books. Photo by Vladimir Gladkov from Pexels.

Children & Death in Literature

In modern English literature, children's apprehensions about death has been deeply explored. Here we examine Jesmyn Ward, Emil Ferris & Neil Gaiman's works. Photo by Anna-Louise from Pexels.

The De-evolution of Kurtz in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

Joseph Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness" is not a story of the white man’s triumph over darkness. On the contrary, it might seem to humor the all too familiar, tried-and-tested trope of a central character, usually a man of European descent degenerating in the tropics after coming in contact with a "savage" culture. Kurtz serves the function here. Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels.

Sharpa from Kathmandu

Awarded the Proctor Fenn Sherwin Award 2022 for the best original short story from a graduating senior by author Caitlin Horrocks, Sharpa from Kathmandu was published in the Fiction Category for the 2022 Spring edition of Catch. Photo by Raimond Clavins form Unsplash.

Exile

Inspired from the Nangpala Pass Massacre where a group of unarmed Tibetan refugees were fired upon by PLA border guards resulting in one death and numerous injuries. It occurred on Sept. 30, 2006. Photo by Atul Vinayak on Unsplash.

Deliverance

Inspired from how the author's grandmother was warned in advance of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, 1959. Her uncle worked for H.H. the Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace, Lhasa. Photo by Billow 926 on Unsplash.

Curriculum Vitae

UW Seattle Profile

Apprentice Bio