Leo X. ZHAO

Leadership, Excellency and Optimism.

I am a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley, studying to obtain my master’s degree in Architecture. UC Berkeley’s Master of Architecture is a 3-year program which provides students with the opportunity to seek their first accredited professional degree, along with providing stellar international reputed education leading to the practice of architecture. I obtained my undergraduate degree in Product Design and Development from San Francisco State University. I graduated from SFSU with honor, as one of the top 5% in a class of 2000 students.

My past internship experience includes traveling to China in the summer of 2012 to intern as the Architect Intern at the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University. Through this experience, I gained valuable industry knowledge on the process of urban design in a Chinese office working environment. I also enrolled in architectural design studios and learned about the fundamentals on both architectural and urban design. My fundamental studio design coursework has left me ready to take on greater challenges.

As the teaching assistant for Chinese in UC Berkeley and product design class in SFSU, I also interned as a graphic design student, which enhanced my graphic representational skills. Both teaching and interning at SFSU has helped me tremendously with navigating and using different Adobe software. In addition, I also learned and mastered how to communicate effectively with my clients through different means and methods of problem solving; as they are the most vital components in the design process.

It is certainly my aspiration to obtain a position with an architecture firm that would give me the opportunity to demonstrate my skills as well as to gain valuable industry experience. I started to follow my passion by achieving a degree in product design and working my way towards Masters of Architecture. All my experiences thus far have prepared me to achieve my dream of becoming a licensed architect. Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

Thank you for taking time to review my profile. Email me at leoxzhao@berkeley.edu if you have any questions.

Leo 04/05/2014