Tianlu holds an MA degree in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and is a fifth-year doctoral student in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on how non-native speakers of Chinese learn to read and write Chinese. Tianlu is from Beijing, China and she moved to Iowa in 2012. She likes the busy student life here, but she is also excited to graduate next year and move to a new place. Outside of her academic life, Tianlu enjoys meditation, yoga, and spending time in nature with friends.