When Daniel Lai arrived at NYU Abu Dhabi as a visiting student from NYU New York, he found an opportunity to blend his love for music with his passion for psychology.
In an effort to step out of his comfort zone and carve niche experiences, Lai, 20, an undergraduate psychology student at NYU College of Arts and Sciences, chose to travel to NYUAD for the fall semester. Lai, a Chinese American student, grew up in California, later moved to Boston, and lived there until he moved to NYU.
“I selected NYUAD because I wanted to interact with different kinds of people and be in an environment that I had previously not had the chance to explore,” said Lai. He added that the campus offered research opportunities, small class sizes, and chances to build communities.
Within a few weeks of arriving in Abu Dhabi, Lai found himself reviving a music society and enrolling in a research assistantship program.
Working as a research assistant at NYUAD’s Perception and Cognition Lab, Lai was able to build relationships with faculty and graduate students that felt difficult in New York.
“My research focus is on the intersection of music and psychology... I’m interested in studying the effect of music on the brain, and the university has been able to support this,” said Lai.
“At NYUAD, I’ve been able to connect with professors who are able to encourage this passion and my research in this field.”
Every semester, NYUAD welcomes visiting students from NYU's New York and Shanghai campuses. The visiting students program at NYUAD helped Lai to seek out cultural experiences.
“Having us explore the local Emirati culture and the Arab culture, I really appreciated that… I thought it really opened my eyes,” he said. Lai said that the trips organised by the NYUAD visiting students program ensured students felt at home in the UAE during their semester abroad.
Making friends with peers from Myanmar, Mongolia and Mauritius, Lai described the campus as a “microcosm of the world.”
“I have made friends with people from all over the world and had the most incredible experiences. I remember one night I stayed up all night playing a Soviet card game that my Uzbek friends had taught me. Another day, a group of Trinidadian students visited and told me about the music from their country.”
The student learnt to play piano and cello as an elementary school student in the US, and is now learning the Chinese zhongruan.
As co-president of the Music Student Interest Group (SIG), Lai helped revive the organization after a hiatus. Lai’s focus this semester is on reactivating the SIG while he plans to organize workshops on song writing and collaboration with other UAE universities when he returns next semester.
Lai’s interest in the music SIG stems from his passion in sharing his musical knowledge. “A lot of students here may not have formal musical training,” Lai explains. “I wanted to share my knowledge and engage with the wider community.”
Lai was recently awarded the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund grant from NYU’s College of Arts and Science. He will be using this funding at NYUAD under his supervisor Dr. David Melcher (who heads the Perception and Cognition lab) to conduct a psychology research study on music cognition and time perception.
I decided to use this grant at NYUAD because of the opportunity I received last semester to work as a student research assistant in his lab, where I have learned how to operate various equipment and have built relationships with my supervisor and other members of the lab.
The idea of studying away may feel intimidating, but the NYUAD visiting student program and the openness of the NYUAD student community really makes a difference. It’s a great opportunity to try different things and engage in conversations with different people, Lai says.
