Jin Xuanyi, class of 2025 in Mechanical Engineering of ZJUI. He has been recognized with multiple honors, including the title of "Model Student for Academic Progress" at Zhejiang University for the 2022–2023 academic year and "Model Student for Academic Excellence" for 2023–2024. His academic achievements also include several prestigious awards, such as the Zhejiang University Second-Class Scholarship, placement on the Dean’s List, and the ZJUI Third-Class Academic Scholarship. In addition, he successfully completed the ZJUI Micro-minor Program in Intelligent Engineering (MPIE), specializing in Data Science and Analytics.
Outside the classroom, he excelled on the soccer field, earning the title of "Best Rookie" at the 2021 Freshman Cup Soccer Tournament on the International Campus and later representing International Campus,Zhejiang University in the ZJU 2025 "Tri-A Cup" Football Match, where his team secured an impressive fourth-place finish.
With his outstanding academic performance and comprehensive qualities, he received admission offers from world-renowned universities including the University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Duke University, University of Texas at Austin, Carnegie Mellon University, and Brown University. He ultimately chose to pursue a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin to continue chasing his dreams.
Exploration: Finding a Path Forward in an International Environment
"It was in the second semester of my freshman year that I really started to plan my future seriously. By then, I had not only fully adapted to ZJUI’s all-English international education but also participated in my first formal research practice," Jin Xuanyi recalled.
Looking back on his early days at ZJUI, Jin Xuanyi admitted that integration didn’t come easily at first. Nearly half of ZJUI’s faculty are foreigners, and when he initially stuck to his high school-era learning approach—focused on "listening, reading, and writing"—he struggled in the highly interactive, all-English classes. "In foreign faculty’ classes, I was hesitant to speak up. For example, in the Rhetoric course, many doubts remained unresolved because I didn’t have the courage to ask," he said. This reluctance to "speak" led to a backlog of problems and even affected his performance in major courses. After repeated moments of frustration in class, he finally realized: only by daring to express himself could he truly break through his limitations.
Jin Xuanyi shared, "In fact, the fastest way to adapt is to speak up boldly and communicate with faculty promptly when you have questions. During conversations, it’s not just about listening carefully and understanding the problem—you also need to dare to voice your own thoughts. It was really hard at first, but with more communication, I grew more confident in speaking up."
Deep Dive: Refining Skills Through Research and Practice
Thanks to ZJUI’s interdisciplinary education, Jin Xuanyi also had the opportunity to learn professional knowledge in computer science, sparking his initial interest in this field. "Computer technology is a versatile tool across industries; almost no sector can do without it. I was interested in this area and hoped to combine computer science with mechanical engineering to explore more possibilities," he explained.
After careful consideration, he signed up for the Student Research Training Program (SRTP) project titled "Design of a Vision-Guided Autonomous Energy-Saving System for Smart Classrooms," supervised by Assistant Prof. Wang Gaoang at ZJUI. The project aimed to realize intelligent control of electronic devices by using computer vision to identify key elements in classrooms. "This is a project applied in campus scenarios, closely linked to our daily lives, and it’s of great significance for improving classroom teaching," Jin Xuanyi introduced. In this project, Jin and his team delved into computer vision knowledge, mastered concepts related to self-supervised learning models, and designed a domain adaptation method based on object detection—effectively solving the problem of declining object detection performance in the smart classroom’s autonomous energy-saving system.
Over the year-long research practice, Jin Xuanyi gradually mastered interdisciplinary research methods. At the same time, he realized that in-depth exploration in interdisciplinary fields required a more solid knowledge foundation, which strengthened his determination to continue learning. When he entered his junior year, he chose to pursue the micro-minor program in Data Science and Analytics at ZJUI. "A solid mathematical foundation not only helps me understand complex engineering problems but also lays the groundwork for learning algorithms and data analysis. For example, the rigorous proof processes emphasized in MATH 364 (Fundamentals of Mathematics) were extremely helpful for my subsequent studies in numerical analysis and even machine learning," he said.
Junior year was undoubtedly a busy yet fulfilling period for Jin Xuanyi. In addition to taking extra credits for his micro-minor courses and achieving a perfect GPA, he also participated in the research project "Portable Optical Microscopy System for Detecting Microparticles such as Proteins." This project allowed him to explore the intersection of computer science, mechanical engineering, and biomedicine, further consolidating and applying the knowledge he had gained from his previous project. In this project, Jin Xuanyi was primarily responsible for realizing the intelligent control of the microscopy system using LabVIEW and Python—including sample position adjustment, light source intensity adjustment, camera parameter setting, and image acquisition—and analyzing the captured images using computer vision technology. He adopted traditional computer vision methods to remove image noise and conduct analysis, avoiding reliance on machine learning models while optimizing the overall operational efficiency of the system. In the end, the team successfully designed a portable optical microscopy system that effectively detects microparticles such as proteins.
▲Program Designed by Jin Xuanyi for Controlling the Portable Optical Microscopy System
When talking about his approach to interdisciplinary learning, Jin Xuanyi said, "While cross-disciplinary courses in computer science for mechanical engineering are important, the key to truly upgrading one’s abilities lies in actively participating in ZJUI’s research and practice projects. Under the careful guidance of professors, these projects not only comprehensively test our overall qualities but also help us accurately identify gaps in our knowledge. He believes that the closed-loop learning model of ‘practice-reflection-improvement’ is a fast track for interdisciplinary learning."
Transcendence: Breaking Boundaries to Reach the Shore of Dreams
In his senior year, Jin Xuanyi further deepened and expanded his learning in computer engineering. He joined the research group led by Assistant Prof. Yang Hao at ZJUI, which focused on "Heavy-Tailed Phenomena in Stochastic Gradient Descent." In his research, he explored the statistical properties of stochastic gradient descent, extended existing findings, and further analyzed how parameters such as step size, learning rate, and dimension influence heavy-tailed phenomena. He also extended his experiments to various optimization methods including Adam, AdaGrad, and RMSProp, comparing their effects on heavy-tailed phenomena. Through this research experience, Jin not only deepened his understanding of the principles of optimization algorithms but also strengthened his determination to continue deepening his expertise in computer science and achieving new breakthroughs.
▲ Trend of Tail Index Changes in Gradient Update Distribution Under Different Step Sizes
Based on his future plans, Jin Xuanyi began preparing for further studies abroad. "I decided to pursue a master’s degree overseas not only to continue deepening my exploration in my profession but also to leverage rich international academic resources and a diverse learning environment to further broaden my global perspective and enhance my comprehensive competitiveness," he said. "My four years of university have laid a solid foundation, but I know there are more opportunities and challenges waiting for me in the wider world."
Jin Xuanyi expressed his gratitude warmly: "The professors at ZJUI have always given me great support and been a solid backing on my learning journey. All have been eager to help students with an open and inclusive attitude, creating a caring and encouraging learning environment. These four years of study and life have been extremely rich and fulfilling for me. With an interdisciplinary research mindset, I was able to freely explore my areas of interest, gradually clarify my future direction, and truly find my own path to development."
Beyond Learning: Another Chapter of Growth on the Football Field
Football is Jin Xuanyi’s greatest passion. Since primary school, he has loved watching and playing football, and he has always been an active member of his school’s football team. "My favorite player is Messi. His playing style combines agility and creativity—he can always break through defenses with skillful footwork and sharp observation in tight spaces. This reshaped my understanding of football," Jin Xuanyi said. "I also hope to be like him: stay calm on the field, and create opportunities for the team through flexible movement and quick tempo changes."
After entering university, high-quality football field facilities and a vibrant football culture further fueled his passion for the sport. He joined the football club and signed up for the International Campus Freshmen Football Cup, where his outstanding performance earned him second place on the scoring chart and the "Rookie of the Year" title.
In the 2025 Zhejiang University "Sanhao Cups" Men's Football Match, Jin Xuanyi’s team won the penalty shootout to advance, ultimately securing an excellent fourth-place finish in the team category.
▲ Group Photo of International Campus Men's Football Team
Talking about his love for football, Jin Xuanyi admitted, "On the football field, I can relax both physically and mentally, focusing on the game—it’s a great distraction from my studies. At the same time, playing football and doing academic research share many commonalities: both require constantly identifying one’s shortcomings and improving on them. For example, I once missed passing opportunities due to not looking up to observe the field. So during training and matches, I always remind myself to look up more, develop better vision and a broader perspective, and strive to make progress bit by bit."
