"Efforts will be paid off." Bearing this notion in mind for four years, Zhang Zhiqing has won mulitple first-class scholarships at BNBU and an entrance ticket to Yale University.
Zhang Zhiqing, Class of 2025, Department of Statistics and Data Science, receives offer from Yale University
For Zhang, studying math is not easy, but it is also not as hard as she thinks. She mentioned that the teachers at BNBU have lit her study path, including Prof Ye Huajun, Prof Deng Yuhui, Dr Peng Xiaoling, Dr Zhang Zhanrong and Dr Zhang Bohai, all of whom guided her a lot in her learning, making her more confident about her study in this field.
Zhang's note
BNBU international community encourages its students to embrace a wider world, and during her first year at the university, Zhang participated in an overseas programme at Oxford University.
The teacher in the first class at Oxford assigned her a programming homework, but at the time, she only knew the basics of linear algebra and calculus. It was challenging, she recalled. However, after wiping up tears and sweats, she became interested in programming and completed the task.
A Christmas tree drawn by Zhang with code
With confidence and accumulation in knowledge and practice, Zhang came up with the idea of doing scientific research. Dr He Ping was the person she consulted most often at BNBU. "I like Dr He, because she is gentle and patient, and her academic capability is also excellent," she said. Every time after class, she would ask for permission to join Dr He's research team, and finally, in her third year, she was able to follow Dr He to start her journey of scientific research.
Zhang with Dr He
Conducting scientific research, writing essays, doing assignments for programme study, interning, preparing language tests, applying for further studies…… Zhang laughed and said that her life had been filled with such a long to-do list since her third year.
With endless diligence, last year, she was accepted by the International Conference on the Intelligent Computing and Robotics (ICICR) 2025 as the first author and corresponding author of her paper, and she was invited to attend and deliver a report at the conference in May this year.
Zhang prepares a scientific project
Following the invitation was an offer from Yale University, where she plans to seek her master's degree in Biostatistics.
Zhang summed up her university life in four words: gratitude, choice, persistence and diligence. She is grateful to her teachers in high school and BNBU for their support and encouragement. She also rejoiced at choosing to major in Statistics.
Zhang is invited to BNBU's promotional event in her high school
What astonished her most was how her persistent efforts and relentlessness throughout these four years had catalysed a personal metamorphosis beyond her wildest imagination.
From MPRO
Reporter: Zhou Ziling
Photos provided by the interviewee
Editor: Cecilia Yu, Uki Zhou
