FAN Chuxuan
★ A new exploration
As an undergraduate, Fan Chuxuan majored in finance and minored in mathematics. She mentioned that she discovered her interest in machine learning when researching on Bitcoin in her senior year. At the same time, her practices in other undergraduate projects using programming-related knowledge led her to choose a completely different research direction at the master's level—data science.
★ Discovering her inner passion
Fan Chuxuan is a bit "Buddhist" in some aspects, but that doesn't mean she lacks planning. In fact, she is always trying new things, finding her true interest in different fields. During an internship in an Internet company and research with a professor at the same time, she found that doing research was a better way to make use of her strengths and find her passion in life than employment. So she started a new journey: attending an academic forum held by Ant Group; becoming a long-term research assistant and doing a real academic research with her classmates.
The working experience as a research assistant with Professor Liu Na from the School of Economics and Management overturned Fan Chuxuan's impression of accounting: "I learned that there are many data science methods that can be used in accounting research. The essence of accounting research is to study information, information of the market, information of economic subjects, etc.. The current cutting-edge accounting research requires a lot of text analysis methods, which happens to be what natural language processing can do, and these methods can significantly expand the data that can be used and improve the efficiency of research." Fan Chuxuan said that she did not have much confidence in research before, and Professor Liu Na was her "enlightening teacher" for her doctoral studies and gave her a lot of encouragement. During the research, she also has more understanding of literature reading, data processing and other processes. "Research is a very long process, I often encounter some barriers, at first they may seem a lot of difficulties, but they will be gradually solved."
"Integration" was a key word for Fan Chuxuan during her research period, "From this project, I met many teachers and students from different majors and fields, including PhD seniors and students from other programs, and made friends with those who majors were in psychology and accounting. I now have a more specific idea and broader resources for my future research area." The strengths in data processing accumulated during her master's degree, her understanding and sensitivity to data, and her participation in many fintech-related courses, conferences and projects led her to return to finance at the PhD level to research in the fintech direction.
★ A journey of continuous growth
While focusing on her studies, Fan Chuxuan also participated in various activities organized by the university. She went to the gym regularly to focus on body management, she also joined the school's counseling club out of her interest in professional practice, and her interest in psychology made her become a participant in several experiments initiated by psychology major.
Talking about her recentcondition, Fan Chuxuan said that her life is more fulfilling during her doctoral studies. Her assignments are more difficult, and she needs more time to discuss with her classmates to complete them. Finally, on her suggestion to younger students, she said that life is about finding what you love and playing to your strengths, being inclusive and pushing your boundaries.
