Student Profile

• Be about to pursue a Ph.D. in Decision Science at INSEAD;
• Received Computer Science (CS) Ph.D. offers from prestigious universities such as Oxford, UIUC, Purdue, and Maryland upon graduation (after taking a gap year);
• Dean's List recipient

Work and Internship Experience:

• Inspir.ai, a game-based AI startup
• Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence
• Collaborative research with a research group at Peking University
• Research Intern at Microsoft Research Asia (Senior Year)
• Reinforcement Learning Algorithm position at SenseTime (Junior Year)
• NLP Algorithm position at ByteDance (Sophomore Year)

Research Area: Reinforcement Learning/Game AI

The overarching theme of my experience was the freedom that allowed for ample exploration opportunities.

This "freedom" is primarily manifested in the form of relative freedom of speech and open-mindedness. At CUHK-Shenzhen, I was exposed to diverse perspectives, which helped me develop the ability to think independently and critically. This ability is evident in my willingness to question and stand firm in my beliefs.

Q: Students are busy enough with their studies, and so it can be challenging to coordinate their studies and other aspects of life. How do you adapt and strike a balance?

My personal approach involved breaking away from the "model student" mentality and learning how to prioritize. This was the learning method I discovered to be most suitable for me. I rarely attended lectures, as I was more accustomed to and skilled at self-studying. I followed my own pace and utilized online resources (such as Bilibili, YouTube, Coursera, etc.) along with the professor's course materials to learn, asking questions during office hours if needed.

When I first started as a freshman, I attended lectures for several weeks but quickly realized that I spent 30% of the time daydreaming and 20% thinking about what to eat after class, leaving only 50% of the time to follow the professor's train of thought. This was highly inefficient. I realized this during my second semester and immediately switched to self-study, saving a significant amount of time to pursue other interests, such as research and internships.

At first, I mainly relied on the professors' uploaded slides for self-study. Later, I discovered that many foreign universities, especially MIT, had excellent public courses on YouTube. For instance, the linear algebra course offered by MIT is considered to be legendary, and I highly recommend it to beginners. I also suggest the calculus series taught by Professor Su Dekuang from Zhejiang University on domestic MOOC platforms, particularly for SSE and SME freshmen who are taking math courses in their first semester. Moreover, there are numerous computer science and electronic engineering courses taught by Indian schools that are extremely enlightening. These platforms have been my primary source for learning math, algorithms, data structures, and  EIE (Electronic and Information Engineering).

In summary, my favorite learning method is a combination of course materials and YouTube lectures. Whenever I encountered problems during self-study, I would jot them down and consult TAs or professors during fixed office hours each week.

My personal stress-management techniques are quite simple and can be summarized as follows:

1. Cooking. I find the process of preparing delicious meals to be therapeutic. I would spend an entire Sunday afternoon following recipes to "create" both Chinese and Western dishes. Although the taste might not always turn out as expected, the tranquility and joy I experience during the cooking process are what truly matter.

2. Taking a walk by the lakeside on campus during summer evenings or sitting on a bench outside 711, listening to music with headphones. However, be prepared for mosquitoes and wear long sleeves and pants, please.

3. Eating sweets, which releases dopamine in the brain, is a biological method of lifting one's spirits.

Q: You mentioned that you used the time saved through self-study for research and internships. Could you share how you managed to secure these opportunities?

I started by sending an email to a professor at the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen during my sophomore year. I was fortunate that the professor was very nice and, after a brief conversation, agreed to supervise me in a summer research project related to NLP (Natural Language Processing). This was my first real exposure to research. Although it was called research, I was mainly learning. At the time, my knowledge base was still weak, so I spent the entire summer learning and working hard. The self-study skills I developed since freshman year proved useful during this period. This summer research marked the beginning of my research journey and paved the way for future opportunities.

After the summer break, I performed well in my CSC4020 Machine Learning course. Inspired by this and my previous summer research experience, I found myself very interested in the theoretical aspects of ML (Machine Learning). So, I took the opportunity to contact the professor of that course, Professor Zha Hongyuan (SDS Vice Dean for Research and Presidential Chair Professor). That year, SDS had just recruited several new professors, and Professor Zha recommended me to Professor Wang Baoxiang. From then on, I began working with Professor Wang on multi-armed bandit research in reinforcement learning. Subsequently, I continued my research in reinforcement learning, expanding into more applied areas such as game AI and multimodal domains.

Here are some personal suggestions for juniors who want to secure research opportunities:

1. Strengthen your foundation in math and coding, and selectively try advanced or graduate courses.

2. Check professors' profiles on the official website and proactively send emails to those whose research interests align with yours. Young assistant professors often need more help and are willing to mentor students.

3. Don't blindly seek research opportunities just to add a line to your resume; it will have little impact.

4. Start with reading seminars, where you can read research papers and give presentations about them.

Q: What do you think will benefit you the most from CUHK-Shenzhen/SDS?

Freedom and rebellion, which helped me find my true self here.

Rebellion is not about empty defiance; it's about carefully thought-out self-persistence. Learning and exam systems can be like shackles, but instead of trying to break them, I learned to dance with them on.

My GPA was consistently 3.7/3.8 in the first three years, with a high ranking in my class. During my fourth year, my focus was on internships rather than coursework, as I had decided to work instead of continuing my studies. I devoted all my time to internships, easing up on my coursework on purpose. The previous three years were quite intense, so I allowed myself a break. Although my GPA in the fourth year was only 2.3, I think it was a matter of making trade-offs and focusing on what was most important to me. In the end, I secured a satisfying offer and everything proceeded according to my plan.

Q: What habits do you think are worth developing and helpful for self-cultivation during your study at CHUK-Shenzhen/ SDS?

One of the professors who had the greatest impact on me is Professor Baoxiang Wang from SDS. I'm grateful for his guidance in Bandit research, which essentially opened the door to my research path. My decision to pursue a Ph.D. is largely influenced by him. I cannot adequately express my appreciation in just a few words, and I hope everything goes well for him.

Professor Wang mainly influenced my research taste and personality. On the one hand, I feel that in the current impetuous research environment in the field of AI, it is not easy to focus on basic research, but he manages to do so. On the other hand, he is easygoing and treats students as genuine collaborators rather than mere "laborers," with no sense of distance between them. He offers strong support for anything beneficial to students' futures.

For example, at the start of the application season, I was worried about the number of applications I had and the inconvenience of asking Professor Wang to write multiple recommendation letters. Because of this, I was reluctant to disturb him. However, to my surprise, he encouraged me to apply to more universities and not to worry about the recommendation letters. Even after applying to over 20 institutions, he still urged me to apply to more for a broader range of choices. His support was one of the driving forces that kept me going during the application season.

Another person who left a deep impression on me was Ye, a fellow student in the Mathematics program. I first met her in a linear algebra class, where we initially bonded over discussing and solving math problems. Over time, we became close friends and were grateful to have met each other.

In terms of academics, I would seek her help with math problems, while she would ask me for assistance with computer knowledge. We were able to help each other out, and we both benefited greatly from the partnership. We also shared a love for poetry, which gave us a common ground to connect over. Although Ye and I don't have any particularly remarkable stories, our friendship was built on a strong foundation of continuous communication and support. It has become one of my most cherished memories from my time at CUHK-Shenzhen.

Q: Do you have any hands-on practice in the four-year undergraduate program? Any experience and take-away about clubs or internships?

Q: What are your current major and why did you choose it?

Q: What are your plans for your future?

Q: In view of the possible confusion and bewilderment of many freshmen, do you have any lessons to tell your younger fellows?