Xu Yangfan is a fourth-year student of UIC's Department of Statistics and Data Science, who has received offers from Oxford's MSc in Statistical Science and Cambridge's MPhil in Population Health Sciences. Immersing himself in scientific research for four years, Xu has accumulated fruitful outcomes with outstanding grades.
During his first year at UIC, Xu joined Dr Du Xinwei's research group, spending most of his school life there concentrating on scientific study. As a result, he published two papers in SCI journals and two EI conference articles as the first and second author respectively, won the first prize in the 17th Challenge Cup - Guangdong University Students' Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition with his classmates, and granted funding support for university and college students from the Guangdong provincial government.
Xu Yangfan with his classmates win the 17th Challenge Cup
While breaking through in the scientific research area, Xu also excelled in academic performance. Winning UIC's First Class Award, National Scholarship and Mr Fung Sun Kwan Scholarship of Excellence for three consecutive years, his cGPA reached 3.9 after four years.
He expressed his gratitude to Dr Du for her guidance in research and was also impressed by her teaching methods, rigour, and patience, which cleared his doubts about his studies and future direction.
Xu Yangfan with Dr Du Xinwei (first from left)
Xu said concentration, long-term investment and time management were his secret weapons. "I make study and research tasks and schedules every week. Scientific research is a process of slow accumulation, from reading literature, thinking, to put forward their hypotheses and argumentation, which is a very interesting process."
Xu Yangfan at UIC
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by the interviewee
Editor: Deen He
