Being absent for so long. I am just busy working on my application to graduate study, my coursework and jobs with my advisor. I would like to share parts of my application - the Statement of Purpose and the Curriculum Vitea, with those concerned. Anyone of you may have better profile than I do. Please don't laugh at me. Thanks :)

Statement of Purpose, aka Personal Statement

In my undergraduate study, I have experience in research, project, and laboratory works in different fields. I was most fascinated by genetic algorithms (GAs) and human-computer interaction (HCI). They are both studying the mutual complementarities of human and machine since GAs are regarded as a burgeoning branch of artificial intelligence. We are trying to build a computer that is more similar to us, and hopefully, it can be better in communicating and interacting with us.

Topics concerning the application of artificial intelligence in interaction have been rising. In my point of view, HCI topics are divided into two major fields: interaction design, which is application-oriented; and virtual reality, which is technology-oriented; AI can be integrated with both fields. In interaction design, we evaluate interfaces by analyzing user data. If we are able to model users’ action on the interface and develop a cost of use function, the design would become a problem of combination optimization, which could be efficiently solved by GAs. Because GAs always provide a solution that followed by better ones, the interface can be continuously adaptive. Intelligent interface generation will probably be the topic of my degree thesis. On the other hand, in the technology field, people are trying to enhance computer’s ability in interaction. Professor Ruth Aylett from Heriot Watt University, UK, gave our HCI group lectures about affective interaction. She mentioned expressive music - researchers try to perform music with emotion. Since computers can play music literally with a score, and musicians play better with deviation and their own expressiveness, if we adopt AI and data mining approach to compare the features of their performance, we may identify the expressive features in musicians’ performance, which can lead us to improve computer’s understanding of emotion.

The primitive perspective is based on my knowledge and experience in this area. I took the first taste of scientific research with Professor Jun Zhang, an honorable scholar who has been encouraging me in my pursuing my studies. I was introduced to genetic algorithms as well as the process of scientific research - digest papers, develop ideas, perform experiments then draw conclusions. It sounds simple but just like GAs' solving complicated problem by repeating simple subtle operations, you have to iterate the process over and over again before actually finding out something valuable. At first my team focused on benchmarking different operators, trying to find out the applicable situation for each. After running the program for countless hours in our poor PCs, tens of gigas of log data came out; we had to develop another program and use statistic software to analyze them. The result was inspiring; further research was encouraged, which gave birth to two papers and a mind fascinated by AI.

Another important experience of mine is the project and laboratory works in the Lab of Digital Life, the most significant HCI research center in southern China. I assisted product design job, and joined Professor Jian-min Wang’s work on patents and standard specifications. The reward for this job is not only that I got the experience of taking part and making my own contribution in large projects, but also that I could study in the HCI group where I got in touch with some famous international scholars.

All the past experience is preparation, which gives me confidence and eagerness to try myself out. Steve Jobs said: “We’re constantly taking things. It’s a wonderful, ecstatic feeling to create something that puts it back in the pool of human experience and knowledge.” Being a PhD student means not only going on studying, but also having the opportunity to make a difference in this world and contribute to the higher good.

(FOLLOWING SCHOOL-SPECIFIC CONTENT PRESERVED)