A sudden epidemic has disrupted the pace of life of many people.
But some people continued to meditate during this period and found a new direction in life.
For example, Yuan Chike, a student at Illinois Institute of Technology, jumped out of the "Tiankeng major" and successfully applied for the 985 Ph.D.
He said 2021 is his fastest growing year.
In 2020, the last semester of the master's degree, other people are struggling to prepare their graduation thesis, but student Yuan is anxious about his future .
"My school is in Beijing, but my hometown is in Changsha, so I can't participate in the spring recruitment. Because I have completed a lot of work ahead of time, there is no problem in graduating successfully, mainly because I am worried about the future."
Due to the outbreak of the epidemic, many design institutes and research institutes cancelled spring recruitment, and the industry began to generally reduce wages. Although his major is the ace major of Beijing University of Technology, the times are changing rapidly, and the glorious era of civil engineering has come to an end .
Since January, he has been constantly reflecting on how he should go in the rest of his life.
Because the content of the master's research is very close to the content of smart buildings, smart civil engineering, smart tunnels, smart roads, etc., he believes that basic engineering such as AI + civil engineering will become an industry trend .
But it is not easy to enter the field of artificial intelligence across majors. It takes at least three or four years to retake the postgraduate entrance examination. Applying for a doctorate, he will definitely be rejected if he has a non-professional background.
That was a dilemma, but by March, he had an epiphany.
"I think even if it is so difficult, do I still have to study for a doctorate or another master's degree to transform? When the answer given in my heart is yes, I know that this matter is not that difficult ."
It was also at this time that he saw the information on the master's program in artificial intelligence at the Illinois Institute of Technology and learned that online + offline mixed learning is possible.
This means that he can realize the first step of the transformation without investing too much time and cost. If he goes to the United States to study offline, he can also consider applying for a doctorate in an American institution after graduation.
Although Yuan's family has doubts about online learning, he sees it as an opportunity.
Facts have also proved that this choice has benefited a lot of his subsequent development .
After entering school in the spring, Yuan took ECE565 Computer Vision and Image Processing as the first course . During the learning process, he realized that the mathematical system of artificial intelligence was completely inconsistent with the mechanics system he had learned before.
After that, he began to concentrate on mathematics, and he deeply mastered the knowledge of Fourier transform and signal transmission, which also laid a good foundation for his subsequent courses .
During the summer semester, he began to invest a lot of time in MATLAB , practicing his ability to use the tool.
In the course of ECE569 Digital Signal Processing , he also read a lot of related papers and communicated frequently with the group of students.
Yuan's notes
"That course was quite difficult, but the professor was very reasonable and allowed us to submit assignments before grading. In the end, he also saw our progress and gave us very good grades. It was also through this course that my follow-up learning became better and better. Okay."
The study of the IIT master's program allowed Yuan to enter the door of artificial intelligence, and then he applied for a doctorate in a domestic institution in September .
In fact, at first, Yuan didn't have much hope for his own application, because many of the students who applied with him graduated from Ivy League schools and had relevant work experience.
"It's very difficult to apply for an inter-professional job. If the teacher rejects me on the spot, I won't have any complaints, but fortunately, I succeeded."
In the written test of the application, he found that the questions of the written test coincided with the learning content of the ECE438 control system course . During the interview, he answered the application questions and academic questions raised by the teacher smoothly, and finally successfully obtained the doctoral qualification .
The teacher also commented that Yuan's undergraduate and master's performance was outstanding, and the study of the IIT master's program also proved that he is not zero-based, and he has also won national awards.
Yuan said that this award is inseparable from the help of the IIT master's program.
During the study of ECE 565 course, he participated in the 6th "Internet +" competition in 2020 .
The 6th "Internet +" Competition
Using what he learned, he discussed with team members whether to add some AI ideas.
"At that time, I thought that the image recognition concept learned by ECE 565 could be added to the sensor, which could automatically recognize and automatically judge the scene classification ."
Combined with Yuan's suggestion, the team kept improving, and after continuous optimization, their finished product finally won the gold award.
This award has also become one of the important bargaining chips for his successful bid .
Now Illinois Institute of Technology, a famous American university , has opened a 3-day free online computer master's experience camp in China for 30 students . If you want to know more about the online master's degree, please click the link below to participate in the experience camp. ! Personal experience is always the most persuasive!
The content of doctoral study and IIT master's study are not divergent, on the contrary, there are many similarities in the study content of the two.
The research direction of Yuan’s supervisor is also computer vision and control. The previous study of the IIT master’s program helped him adapt to the doctoral life and saved a lot of energy and time .
Student Yuan's study scene
When asked about his plans after graduation, Yuan was not very sure what career he would choose in the future.
However, he firmly stated that he would not completely give up the knowledge of the underlying disciplines of undergraduate and master, and he would make good use of his interdisciplinary identity to make it a powerful tool for future development.
"Taking intelligent buildings as an example, many people who study architecture do not understand artificial intelligence, and those who study artificial intelligence do not understand architecture, which will lead to the failure of what they do to reach the corresponding level."
Moreover, in Yuan's view, researching interdisciplinary subjects is a very interesting thing .
He does not feel that he is completing a very boring and difficult task, and he feels joy in the transfer and application of knowledge.
Although the identity of interdisciplinary is considered a bit "deviant" by many academics, Yuan believes that this can make his perspective on problems more thorough and professional, and can also increase his future employment options after graduation .
"Many disciplines are developed from the underlying disciplines, such as biochemistry, which was originally two independent disciplines of biology and chemistry, including materials. Interdisciplinary is actually a development trend of future disciplines ."
And he also said frankly that the graduation of a doctorate is not the end of his studies. What industry he can enter and what knowledge he can learn are what he values more .
Because the current social environment is not advancing or retreating, if you stay put, you may not be able to integrate into society at all by the age of 40.
"For example, during the epidemic, many elderly people don't know how to use health codes, and they need the assistance of younger generations. Now social progress is quite fast."
Therefore, Yuan has always been in favor of active learning , otherwise hesitation will lead to failure. In the study of IIT, he has recognized many outstanding students who are much older than him.
One of the students was only five years younger than his father, which might seem unbelievable to outsiders, but Yuan thought it was normal.
As long as you really want to learn in your heart, many things are not as difficult as you think.
For example, he now has both a master's and a Ph.D. in IIT. Although the study time will be very tight, he is actually optimistic.
His fellow apprentices commented that he was so happy every day that he didn't look like a doctor at all, but Yuan said that in the face of pressure, he must learn to adjust .
"If you want to balance study and life, the focus is not on time, but on mentality. Time is always enough, but many people just waste time in anxiety."
From the "Tiankeng Major" to the inter-professional application for the 985 Ph.D., although he doesn't know the way forward, Yuan is ready to constantly challenge himself and become a true practitioner of lifelong learning .