Yisong Yue - About

Name: Yisong Yue

Email: yisongyue_at_gmail_dot_com

Occupation: Postdoctoral Researcher

Affiliation: Carnegie Mellon University

Favorite Read: Wikipedia

Hometown: Chicago / Beijing

Current Residence: Pittsburgh, PA

I was born in Beijing, China in 1983 and moved to the United States five years later. Since that time, I have lived in or around Chicago up until my college years. I was fortunate enough to have attended IMSA during my sophomore through senior years of high school. Afterwards, I spent the better part of the next four years calling Urbana, IL home. As a young, aspiring computer science major at the University of Illinois, I managed to spend couple of summers in Seattle while working for Microsoft, and another summer at Santa Clara working for NVIDIA. I then spent five years in Ithaca, NY while attending Cornell University. During my time in grad school, I've managed to escape to Seattle for another summer of fun -- this time at Microsoft Research. I also spent a summer in the Bay Area while interning for Google. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher (i.e., visiting scientist) at Carnegie Mellon University, which is located in Pittsburgh, PA.

During my time as an undergrad, I was an active member of UIUC's ACM student chapter. Being a dutiful member, I did my share of officer duty, first by being chair of the student chapter of SIGGRAPH, and eventually treasurer of the entire organization. In my capacity as treasurer, I became nearly god-like in the eyes of my fellow ACMers since I controlled the checkbook and thus all the pizza money. All in all, ACM was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit from the other members there.

I arrived at Cornell thinking my days as a food bitch were over. Sadly, it was not to be, for graduate CS students are just as ravenous as those of the undergraduate variety. I consequently served three semesters as the Brown Bag Czar. In fact, I ordered pizza with such regularity that, during weeks when I didn't order, the pizza shops would call me to see if anything was amiss. Ah well, at least they appreciated me.

I also enjoy singing and acting, although I haven't really done too much of the latter since entering college. While at UIUC, I was a member of the Varsity Men's Glee Club. It is an all male choir directed by the very talented Professor Barrington Coleman. While at Cornell, I was a member of the Cornell University Glee Club directed by the equally fabulous Professor Scott Tucker.

Other hobbies of mine include basketball and reading. Although my reading list has now switched from predominantly fiction to much drier material, my love for Tolkien is in a class of its own. I'm sure many would agree that, due to their nostalgic charms, one's childhood delights have a tendency to carry over well into adulthood. My infatuation with Tolkien's work is no exception. Incidentally, a few months after I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I felt compelled to audition for the school play (which was "The Hobbit") at my junior high. That was how I discovered my love for acting and subsequently singing. My favorite fiction author from recent times is Neil Gaiman. I've also recently picked up photography.

In general, I'm up for trying all kinds of fun and interesting things. As my good friend John Carrino has taught me so well, you really only live once so you better make it worthwhile (unless, of course, we can live indefinitely).

For the most part though, you can find me lounging around (most likely in my office) hoping somehow to randomly create general artificial intelligence. Ah yes, the glorious life of a grad student...

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
-- Winston Churchill

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