Qiu Tongyu is a fourth-year student of UIC's Applied Psychology Programme of the Department of Life Sciences, who has been admitted to the Yale School of Public Health Master of Public Health Programme.
Talking about UIC, Qiu said thanks to its liberal arts environment, she was encouraged to develop interdisciplinary skills in math by taking Linear Algebra as her elective course and learning programming languages including R, Python and Structured Query Language (SQL). She then applied this knowledge to her study and research.
Qiu managed to apply for Dr Li Yu's student research assistant in her programme during her third year. "Dr Li is highly professional, rigorous, responsible and enthusiastic," she said. Under his training, she learned to think independently and select appropriate methods for her research. Eventually, she managed to present her research paper as the first author at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, and as the second author at two other international conferences.
Qiu Tongyu with Dr Li Yu
Qiu also excelled in competitions and study. Winning multiple national and provincial prizes with her teammates, her cGPA was ranked the first in her major over the four years. With outstanding performance and records, Qiu received UIC's Dean's Award, Guangdong Medical Valley Scholarship and First Class Award, and now, she is well-prepared for her future study life at Yale.
Qiu Tongyu with teammates and competition instructor Dr Xing Linna (first from left)
Qiu Tongyu at UIC's scholarship presentation ceremony
From MRPO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by the interviewees
Editor: Deen He
