Mai Hendrix

Human Resources

Mai Hendrix

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background. Where you grew up, where you live now, family and pets… anything goes! 

  1. I am a first gen immigrant.

  2. I am bilingual (Chinese and English) and have a bi-cultural family.

  3. I have/had my home in 3 places: China, Taiwan, the US.

  4. I have experiences of an expat, inpat, repat and a trailing spouse of an expat.

  5. I love to travel around the world with my family. Together we have left our footprints in five continents over 25 countries/regions.

Besides my fascination in different cultures, I also love to explore good eats around the world. One of the rules we have for our kids is that they MUST try the local foods when we travel. I am the only one in my family who is NOT in MatSci major. So imagine my loneliness at the dinner table conversations when they talk about metal fatigue, crystallization, deposition, wafers, and other "exciting" stuff. Luckily they are into liberal arts topics as well.

What hobbies or interests do you enjoy in your free time?

When I have time, I like to hide in my craft room making cards while listening to my favorite music. I donate those cards to schools, organizations, clinics and some friends. Part of the reasons we live in Connecticut is that we have easy access to museums, concerts, Broadway shows, opera and ballet performances in the New York City. We live near the border with NY state. It is easy to hop on the train and indulge ourselves for a weekend in the City.

Tell us about someone in your life who inspired you or helped you become who you are today.

My grandfather was a physics professor and spoke three foreign languages. He always encouraged me to become a physicist, learn a foreign language and see the world! Well, I got 2/3 + of the goals - I learned a foreign language, physically explored the world and I am surrounded by family members in STEM majors!

What’s an accomplishment you are really proud of? Is there something you want to do, but haven't done yet?

My family has a plan of visiting famous battlefields around the world. I am proud that we checked off most of them on the list. The plan is to wrap up the journey with Normandy last year. We had to cancel the trip due to COVID-19. Hopefully, we don't have to wait for too long.