Sukuan grew up in Shenzhen, China, a big city in which he wasn’t exposed to much of the natural world. When he was 17 he moved to the US to finish High School because he preferred the education system here. For his bachelor’s degree he attended Colorado College. During that time he loved all the opportunities to experience the outdoors in Colorado. Early on he developed an interest in plants, and would read about carnivorous plants in an encyclopedia. Otherwise, his interests were all over: he also enjoyed organic chemistry and biochemistry. When he applied to graduate school he went through CU’s IQ Biology program, which allowed him to integrate his diverse interests. He got to know his current adviser Stacey Smith through his undergraduate adviser, and he now studies carnivorous plant evolution in her lab. The students and postdocs in the Smith lab come from very diverse backgrounds, but everyone is friendly and learns from each other and Sukuan feels very comfortable there.
