Yisong Yue - Personal

Name: Yisong Yue

Email: yisongyue_at_gmail_dot_com

Occupation: Grad Student

Hometown: Chicago / Beijing

Current Residence: Ithaca, NY

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 University of Illinois, I managed to spend couple summers in Seattle while working for Microsoft, and another summer at Santa Clara working for NVIDIA. I currently reside in Ithaca, NY and attend Cornell University in hopes of one day receiving my PhD. Since coming to grad school, I've managed to escape to Seattle for another summer of fun -- this time at Microsoft Research.

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 a 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 the 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'rt 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 ranging between 50 to 75 members and is directed by the very talented Professor Barrington Coleman. I am currently a proud member of the Cornell University Glee Club directed by the equally fabulous Professor Scott Tucker.

Other hobbies of mine include basketball and reading. While my reading list has now switched from predominantly fiction to 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, and 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 was 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.

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.

For the most part though, you can find me lounging around (most likely in my office) somehow hoping to randomly prove or disprove P = NP. Ah yes, the glorious life of a grad student...

My Stuff

My Dumb Blog

Favorite Quotes