{"id":17139,"date":"2026-08-19T17:20:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/?p=17139"},"modified":"2026-08-19T17:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:20:56","slug":"looking-back-on-the-each-program-hans-denzel-natividad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/looking-back-on-the-each-program-hans-denzel-natividad\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back on the EACH program – Hans Denzel Natividad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hans in front of the University of Tartu main building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hans<\/strong><\/mark>: I joined the EACH program two years ago with the dream of being an excellent analytical chemist. Through all the lectures, experiments, projects and internships, I feel confident saying that I am an analytical chemist equipped with the knowledge, practical experience, and critical thinking skills necessary to realise my goals. Furthermore, I feel comfortable saying that I am an analytical chemist continually improving in pursuit of excellence\u2014similar to how there is no \u201cperfect\u201d analytical method, only a fit-for-purpose one that is continually developed and validated!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first significant memories I made in the EACH program was attending the PhD defence of alumna Larissa Maciel. Having met my future teachers in both Tartu and Uppsala\u2014Professor Ivo Leito and Dr. Koit Herodes at UT, and Dr. Jeffrey Hawkes (who served as the opponent of Dr. Maciel) at UU\u2014I had a glimpse of what the next two years of my life as a young researcher could be like that afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As Larissa was offering her heartfelt thanks to all those that supported her, she emphasized how words were not enough to describe how grateful she was to Professor Leito because of how much the EACH program had changed her life. I was moved by her words even though I had yet to experience it myself; now, a graduate, I find myself resonating deeply with Larissa and her sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curriculum is well-designed, in my opinion, to support students from various backgrounds and help them become better researchers through the foundational and advanced chemistry courses in Tartu and the specialisation courses in whichever second-year university the student later attends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The facilities are modern and the teachers are experts, but more importantly, our teachers often tried new, innovative or perhaps non-conventional approaches to teaching and were very open and supportive whenever we needed help. It was almost always the case that even highly technical fields such as metrology and LC-MS became manageable thanks to our teachers being *very* patient with all our questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as for the lab experiments, which covered a lot of techniques and different applications, any confusion or gaps in understanding were resolved during the mini tasks such as the calculation exercises and QandA sessions with the lab supervisor\u2014gracias, Ernesto!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lecture halls and lab rooms were also places where meaningful and (hopefully!) lifelong friendships started. We shared stories of our hometowns, favourite meals, and, of course, sleepless nights finishing lab reports and preparing for exams. So even though we came from very different backgrounds and cultures, we felt at ease and a sense of belonging in each other\u2019s company. Together, we made Tartu and Uppsala our home far away from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EACH program changed my life beyond words, as it did with Larissa, and I am sure, with countless others. I owe Professor Leito, Dr. Teearu, Professor Bergquist and all who help make EACH the amazing program it is today an immense debt of gratitude. My sincerest thanks to all of you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hans: I joined the EACH program two years ago with the dream of being an excellent analytical chemist. Through all the lectures, experiments, projects and internships, I feel confident saying that I am an analytical chemist equipped with the knowledge, practical experience, and critical thinking skills necessary to realise my goals. Furthermore, I feel comfortable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":17143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17145,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17139\/revisions\/17145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/each.ut.ee\/EACH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}