Autumn Wu, '17 – Computer Science

I’m from Chengdu. I grew up interested in numbers, but although I loved science, some of my high school teachers tried to deter me, claiming that men were born to excel in science and engineering over women! I was desperate to study in a more diverse and open environment, and to prove my teachers wrong. After coming to NYU Shanghai, I chose computer science as my major, which I had never studied before. I fell in love with it. NYU Shanghai’s unique international study environment motivated me to dive deeper into CS: I’ve gained experience with data mining on social networks, and I have one publication accepted to an international conference. My second paper, You Can Yak but You Can’t Hide: Localizing Anonymous Social Network Users – about the Yik Yak app’s usage on US university campuses – is now under its second review. I'm proud of this second paper because I am its primary author. I’ve already been offered a CS Ph.D from NYU, so my short term goals are to continue studying as a student. In the future, I hope to become an open-minded professor, who helps and encourages students in the way that I was supported at NYU Shanghai.