In 2014 Fall semester, Junting Zhang becomes a new master student in MCLab. She received the B.S. degree in Communication Engineering from Xiamen University in 2014. Now we have an interview with her, talking about her background and her thoughts on USC and MCLab.

What were your first impression of USC and MCLab?

USC is famous for its culture diversity and top-notch academic achievements, and it is almost my dream school. I came from Xiamen University, which is also located in a coastal city, so I cannot help comparing these two universities. They both have charming campus landscapes and rich resources, but USC is more idyllic. I found adorable squirrels running through the crowd. During the welcome week, everybody kept saying the slogan “Fight on, Trojans! “, which really cheered me up. I am looking forward to starting a brand new journey here.

As for MCL, Professor Kuo and senior students are really nice and warm-hearted. They make MCL like a home for me. They also helped me a lot to adapt to the new environment, especially Yuzhuo and Xiaqing. I feel lucky to join this group. I have chatted with several group members.  Everyone is self-motivated and experienced in research. I am sure that I will gain tons of hands-on experience and make great friends here.

Could you briefly describe your previous research experience?

When I was an undergraduate student, I majored in communications. I took part in the National Innovation Training Program, working on haze removal for blurred images and surveillance videos. My undergraduate thesis is about LDPC codes decoding algorithm design and analysis over a partial response channel, which is the model of magnetic recording system.

What is your future expectation in MCLab?

My background matches MCL perfectly. I expect to learn research methodology and practical skills from other group members, and enjoy finding and solving scientific problems. I wish to gain more programming and algorithm analysis experiences, which are the basic surviving skills in IT industry. Besides, I wish to be proficient in English, including daily communication, presentations and academic writing, so that I could express myself effectively. Furthermore, as a master student, I will try to figure out whether I am truly interested in and good at research, in order to set a judicious career path.