Siying Yu
Class of 2025 in Electrical Engineering
She has successively won awards including the Second Prize in the 8th Zhejiang University Physics Academic Competition, the Third Prize in the 3rd Zhejiang University Concrete Dragon Boat Competition, the Group First Prize in the "White Horse Cup" Debate Competition of International Campus, Zhejiang University, and the First Prize in the Summer Social Practice for College Students of Zhejiang University International Campus. Academically, she has also been awarded honors such as the Zhejiang Provincial Government Scholarship for consecutive years.
Thanks to her outstanding performance, she was once named an "Excellent Student" of Zhejiang University and received individual pacesetter honors in fields like academic excellence and cultural & sports activities.
In terms of public welfare practice, Yu Siying has demonstrated a consistent passion for education. She has served as a teaching assistant for multiple courses on numerous occasions, including Rhetoric 101 (Principles of Academic Writing), Rhetoric 102 (Research Writing Methods), and Introduction to Computer Programming. Her responsibilities included organizing seminar classes, grading assignments, and guiding students in academic writing. Additionally, she traveled to Jingdong County, Yunnan Province, to participate in a volunteer teaching program, where she designed and developed a series of interesting science experiment courses for local fifth-grade students, transforming her professional knowledge into vivid teaching practice.
Today, this diligent and outstanding student majoring in Electrical Engineering is about to head to The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to embark on a new chapter of academic exploration.
To investigate things and extend knowledge; Strive to find aspiration and interest
"When I look back on my four years of undergraduate study, I think the biggest challenge and core goal throughout this period was 'finding my own interests'," Yu Siying said. Against the backdrop of today's highly specialized higher education, undergraduate students, in particular, need to accurately identify their research interests during the critical window of their first and second years. On this basis, they should establish a development path in specific sub-fields. This is not only the primary step to embark on an academic career, but also one of the most crucial growth leaps in the entire undergraduate stage.
In the summer of 2021, Yu Siying, who had just finished her high school career, stood at a crossroads when choosing her major. At that time, she only had a hazy cognition of her future professional direction: "I vaguely felt that I was relatively interested in fields related to 'electricity'." However, this vague interest was not sufficient to support her decision-making in choosing a specific major.
"According to the traditional way of major classification in China, the broad field of Electrical Engineering is divided into specialized directions such as Electrical Engineering and Automation, Microelectronic Science and Engineering, and Electronic Information Engineering," she explained. "For students who have just finished the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao), it is indeed very difficult to accurately choose the most suitable specialized direction without practical understanding."
Just as she was hesitant to make a decision, the interdisciplinary talent development model of ZJUI caught her attention. This model breaks down traditional disciplinary barriers and provides students with broad space to explore interdisciplinary fields. After careful consideration, she finally chose the major of Electrical Engineering at ZJUI, hoping to find a research direction that truly aligns with her interests in this open and inclusive academic environment.
After weathering countless trials, one accumulates deeply to achieve a brilliant breakthrough
At the start of college, Yu Siying immersed herself in a wide range of interdisciplinary engineering knowledge, receiving a systematic and comprehensive education in foundational courses. For her, however, maintaining a thirsty-for-knowledge mindset and a clear goal-oriented approach remained crucial all along. "During my first two years of college, I indeed went through a period of confusion," she admitted. "It was difficult to gain a deep understanding of the various sub-fields of electrical engineering just by relying on coursework; I had to take the initiative to seek out extracurricular practical opportunities to explore my direction."
With this understanding, Yu Siying proactively sought out opportunities for scientific research and practice, embarking on her academic exploration journey early in her undergraduate studies. In this regard, she expressed special gratitude to Assistant Professor Liu Zuozhu of ZJUI and other teachers for their attentive guidance. "I first met Assist. Prof. Liu when applying for a practical project as a freshman," Yu recalled. "At that time, as first-year students, we lacked research experience. Assist. Prof. Liu not only patiently guided us to master basic research frameworks and learning methods, but also fully respected our ideas when it came to choosing research topics."
In the second semester of her freshman year, she chose to join the research group led by Professor Liu Yong from the School of Control Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University, where she participated in motion control research. In this project, she conducted basic development on the Xiaomi CyberDog based on the ROS2 system: from joint motor control to inverse kinematics calculation for posture, and from gait planning to the implementation of handle-driven control. These practical experiences enabled her to systematically master the fundamental technologies of embedded control.
After advancing to her sophomore year, her research horizons further expanded. Under the guidance of Assistant Professors Liu Zuozhu and Yang Hao from ZJUI, she participated in the Student Research Training Program (SRTP) project titled "Robustness Research on Federated PCA". By reproducing three Federated PCA algorithms—P-COV, AP-COV, and AP-STACK—and conducting heterogeneous dataset experiments, she gained a deeper understanding of data processing methods. Upon the project's completion, Assist. Prof. Liu Zuozhu commented, "During the research training, Yu Siying demonstrated a solid theoretical foundation and excellent innovative ability, along with a strong spirit of independent learning and exploration."
In addition, she also joined the research group led by Researcher Huang Kejie at Zhejiang University to conduct research on FPGA-based true random number generators. In this project, she innovatively utilized the SRAM BRAM read-write timing violation characteristics to generate random numbers, and systematically analyzed the correlation between random number quality and FPGA power-on time. Through this experience, she gained valuable insights into digital circuit and architecture research.
"Choosing a major should be based on sufficient practice and in-depth reflection, rather than a hasty, last-minute decision," Yu Siying summed up. These interdisciplinary research experiences not only helped her gradually focus her research interests, but also enabled her to develop a systematic understanding of various sub-disciplines within electrical engineering. Each exploration in the laboratory laid a more solid foundation for her future professional development and also brought about a qualitative leap in her academic perspective.
When aspiration is clear, drawing wisdom from diverse sources will make it shine brilliantly
In the Introduction to Computer Programming (ECE 120) course, when learning about the process of building a small processor from a transistor, Yu Siying gradually developed a strong interest in computer architecture. "I particularly enjoyed the progressive knowledge system of this course," she mentioned. "Starting from MOS devices to processors, combined with theoretical lectures and software-hardware experiments, the overall course design is very interesting and practical."
Her strong interest in this course drove Yu Siying to go beyond the role of a learner. After the course ended, she proactively applied to work as a teaching assistant (TA) for it, hoping to pass on this passion for learning to more classmates. During her tenure as a TA, she took on a number of important teaching support tasks: assisting with homework grading and feedback, holding regular Q&A sessions, and planning and organizing a final review seminar. This TA experience not only enhanced her teaching organization skills and communication abilities, but also, through the process of "learning by teaching," allowed her to develop a more systematic and in-depth understanding of the course's knowledge system.
▲The ECE 120 Final Review Session Organized by Yu Siying as a Teaching Assistant
Regarding this, the course instructor, Assist. Prof. Liu Zuozhu, commented, "As a teaching assistant for the ECE 120 course, she is serious and responsible in her work and can flexibly respond to various teaching needs. I believe that with her planning skills and professional competence, she will surely achieve fruitful results during her doctoral studies."
As she later delved deeper into courses such as Computer Organization and Design and Numerical Control System Experiments, she grew increasingly fond of this hands-on practice process. "The process of transforming theoretical knowledge into practical applications gives me a strong sense of accomplishment," she said.
Based on her accumulation of practical research experience, Yu Siying finally identified her interdisciplinary research direction that integrates computer architecture, Electronic Design Automation (EDA), and other related fields. To conduct more in-depth research, she enrolled in core hardware system courses related to electrical and computer engineering. This series of courses requires students to hand-code operating systems, design processors, and create backend layouts—tasks with extremely high engineering practice intensity, even posing significant challenges for students majoring in computer engineering.
▲ECE425 Datapath Layout Designed by Yu Siying
With a solid academic foundation and the interdisciplinary engineering literacy she developed during her first two years of college, Yu Siying successfully mastered technologies spanning from the topmost to the bottommost layers of the hardware systems field through her studies and practice, achieving excellent grades of A/A+ in all relevant courses. Among these, in the ECE 425 course, the assignment she designed won second place in the class evaluation.
Notably, in the Computer Organization and Design (ECE 411) course, Yu Siying collaborated with Ni Chiming (class of 2025 in Electrical Engineering), Lai Kongning, and Wei Hengjia (class of 2025 in Computer Engineering) to successfully implement a RISC-V-based superscalar out-of-order multi-issue processor. This design set a course record—it achieved an IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) greater than 1 (processing more than one instruction per clock cycle) in benchmark tests for the first time. Ultimately, the team took first place in the performance competition and was awarded a $1,000 prize sponsored by Optiver.
Currently, Yu Siying is dedicated to researching the topic of "CUDA-Accelerated Buffer Insertion Optimization". When talking about her future development direction, she said, "I hope to explore the innovative application of cutting-edge technologies in electronic design processes, while conducting in-depth research on the collaborative optimization mechanism between computer system architecture and hardware design." With her profound understanding of computer architecture and continuous research enthusiasm, Yu Siying will continue to make unremitting explorations and pursue innovations in the research field she loves.
Aspires to contribute, and extend passion to all realms
▲Group Photo of Yu Siying (Second from the Left) and Her Team During Their Volunteer Teaching Trip to Yunnan
In the field of public welfare practice, Yu Siying has always demonstrated a strong sense of social responsibility. As a teaching assistant for the courses Rhetoric 101 (Principles of Academic Writing) and Rhetoric 102 (Research Writing Methods), she carefully designs seminar content every week, patiently answers questions for her classmates in detail, and organically integrates professional knowledge with teaching methods.
What is particularly commendable is that she once went to Jingdong, Yunnan to participate in volunteer teaching activities, serving as a fifth-grade science teacher and class teacher. She skillfully transformed her professional knowledge into interesting experiments, opening the door to science for children through creative projects such as saltwater-powered cars. "What left the deepest impression on me was the electrical experiment class," she recalled. "The children showed amazing learning ability with experimental equipment like breadboards, and many students successfully built complete circuits on their first try." This volunteer teaching experience gave Yu Siying a deeper understanding of educational work: "Teaching is not only about knowledge transmission, but also about grasping the rhythm and order of the classroom. Although short-term volunteer teaching makes it difficult to systematically impart knowledge, by stimulating interest and broadening horizons, we can plant the seeds of curiosity in children."
▲Group Photo of Yu Siying (First from the Left) at the Final of the "Baima Cup" Debate Competition
Beyond her professional research, Yu Siying is also a versatile individual full of passion for life—she is not only a quick-witted debater on the debate stage, but also an enthusiast in the world of music. She has participated in numerous debate competitions: her team once won the championship of the "Baima Cup" Debate Competition at Zhejiang University International Campus, and she personally claimed the title of "Best Debater" in the final with her outstanding closing statement. During her leisure time, music has become an important way for her to adjust her study rhythm, helping her maintain a positive mindset amid the intensity of academic life.
"The most important thing in learning and practice is not to find the 'perfect' direction right from the start, but to dare to try and follow your interests. We are often held back by worries like 'Am I capable of this?'—we assume we can't do it, and as a result, we miss out on many opportunities. Whether it's a professional research project, a course project, or volunteer teaching, once you truly dive in, you will often find that things are far less difficult than you imagined. Waiting until you are 'fully prepared' to start is unrealistic; learning through practice is the most effective way to grow."
