Dr. Mei Ann Lim first discovered her interest in teaching when she was a stay-at-home mom, tutoring her two daughters in math. The experience inspired her to change careers. “I [found] I enjoyed it,” Dr. Lim said. “[I thought] I could [teach] for a living. And also because the teaching schedule lets me spend more time with my kids because my holidays coincide with theirs.”

Dr. Lim teaches Advanced Biology, Advanced Chemistry, and Principles of Biomedical Science. Her favorite aspect of math and science is how they follow reliable and reasonable patterns and always have an answer.

“I guess it has to do with logic. Anything logical is, like, if you can explain it, like math, you can prove it,” Dr. Lim said. “ Or even in science if you do, you know, research or you do an investigation or experiments and you can either prove or disprove. That’s what I like about it. You know, it follows a certain path. You can explain it or you can’t, but there’s always a way to test it out.”

This is Dr. Lim’s third year teaching for Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD). Prior to being a high school teacher, Dr. Lim taught at Pearson Ranch Middle School, where she wished she could go more in-depth with the subjects she was teaching. When she made the decision to move to high school, it was between Westwood and Round Rock High School.

“So I guess it’s just mainly you know, I hear good things about Westwood, good teachers, good students, you know, who wouldn’t want good teachers and good students?,” said Dr. Lim.

Dr. Lim’s experience extends far beyond education. Before teaching, she received her Ph.D in Medical Biology from University of Melbourne, before working at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and later, Apollo Cytokine Research in Australia as a researcher focusing on cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes.

“[What inspired me to be a researcher was] the thrill of discovering something new that no one [else] has ever discovered before,” said Dr. Lim. “Even better, if the discovery can contribute to the development of new drugs to treat diseases.”

When it comes to teaching at Westwood, Dr. Lim is excited to teach, get to know the kids, and learn and grow while she’s doing it.

“Teaching principles of biomedical science is interesting because it’s all project based, so to see how far our kids can go by themselves. Chemistry is exciting, because, hey, who doesn’t want to work with chemicals, right?,” said Dr. Lim. “ [But] biology, that’s what I’m really good at. So you know, just I guess I’m just excited just to help the kids get as far as they can.”

While Dr. Lim hasn’t thought much about her goals this year, she wants more than anything to learn about Westwood and improve in any way she can.