Faye Fang (方柠 @FayeFang17) joined my group as a half-time technician on July 1, 2024, and immediately dived deep into the code base of EDTA. Soon, she started to improve EDTA with the main focus on improving the installation of the program (8a9da5e, #497, #500), catching and fixing bugs from user-reported issues (b98c988, #494, #499, 13d3a51, 116c52b, a71e9eb, 25fb95d), making EDTA2 more adapted to various types of TEs (#478, #491, c7b8c8a, c745fd3), and making a smooth transition to better code architecture (2032c86, c8c2f27, d0d7506). Faye did such an excellent job of finding solutions for all issues, steadily improving EDTA to a more versatile and robust tool, giving me peace of mind.
Faye's achievement was not causal. She was diagnosed the Still's disease early this summer. This is a rare inflammatory disorder that impacts the entire body and requires immunosuppression for treatments. Known as a commonly non-lethal disease, Faye was very optimistic about the treatment plan and always brought hope to people around her. The disease had kept her in the OSU James Hospital most of the time while waiting for her insurance's approval of the optimal treatment. Working on improving EDTA was one of the ways that gave Faye a sense of comfort and meaning. When she was able to come to work, she was a good company to all lab members.
Things went downhill when everyone carelessly wondered how long Faye needed to stay in the hospital. Due to immunosuppression treatments, Faye unfortunately contracted bacterial infections twice, both in the hospital. The second infection was a Carbapenem-resistant strain of Serratia marcescens, which quickly developed into severe sepsis. Faye forever left us on September 25, 2024, at 3:36 pm EST, two days after her 25th birthday.
Faye loved this work, repeatedly said both by herself and her parents. She left things behind knowing she did a really good job. Her last commit to this project was September 12, 2024 (25fb95d). Faye is dearly missed by her lab mates, friends, and mentors. Faye is survived by her parents, who have just retired and are volunteering in Tibet to build hospitals, schools, and infrastructures. Please remember Faye.
Shujun Ou
11/25/2024
Please check out the Full Changelog for this version here: v2.2.0...EDTA2
