Yifan Zhou

Could you tell us a little about yourself and about your studies before coming to Imperial?

I am originally from China. Before coming to Imperial, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Technology at the Renmin University of China. I also studied Cyber Security as my minor. During my third year of college, I studied at Macquarie University in Sydney as an exchange student. My four years’ of undergraduate experience stimulated my interest in Computing and laid a solid foundation for my further study.

What attracted you to your degree?

One thing which attracted me most is the wide range of options that the degree can offer. As a MAC (MSc Advanced Computing) student, except for one compulsory module, I can choose to take courses that interest me during the first two terms (Autumn and Spring). The variety of courses can also satisfy everyone’s needs. It is exactly one of the most important reasons why I chose the program. Because of my undergraduate experience, I am highly interested in both Machine Learning and Security. Here, MAC helps me dig deep into the cross area of Machine Learning and Security by offering courses like Advanced Computer Security, Deep Learning, Mathematics for Machine Learning. Also, I enjoyed myself when studying other modules like Prolog and Knowledge Representation, etc.

What do you enjoy the most?

It is so hard to just pick one as my favourite. Generally, I enjoy the learning atmosphere when we discuss with lecturers in class. The timely feedback we get from our previous coursework and the lab sessions improve our understanding of the materials mentioned in class. During lectures, we are often introduced some state-of-art models or architectures. One thing worth mentioning is the ISO (Individual Study Option), which is something I am currently doing and find quite helpful and interesting. ISO enables me to research an interesting topic with the guidance of my supervisor.

What do you find more challenging?

As many state-of-art materials discussed in the lectures comes from recent conference papers, I do need to go through these papers to follow the lecturers and better understand these concepts. At first, it is challenging to digest these papers. But I can feel my progress as I keep reading and doing notes in the margins.

Also, as it is my first year in London, it is not challenging but it takes time for me to get used to life in London, including the diets and weather.

Can you tell us about some of your achievements at Imperial that make you proud?

The top achievement I made for the previous term is that I successfully balanced my life and study. I achieved a decent academic performance as well as started my new life in London.

Another thing I want to share is that I become more determined about my research topic and what I want to do in the future. For now, my topic for the individual project is access control migration and that for ISO is about venerability detection using machine learning. In the future, I hope I can continue to research the cross-field of machine learning and security.

What do you do in your spare time?

During my spare time, I will go jogging along the river bank. Also, I joined the Table Tennis Team at Imperial. Practically, I will attend the four-hour social session and two-hour training session every week.

What is your advice for prospective students?

I think for students who want to explore more about Computing, like but not limited to Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and IoT Security, Advanced Computing is the ideal program in that it not only provides various selective modules but also help crystalize the career or research plan. It is a taught program. But for those prospective students who want to pursue a Ph.D. or research-oriented job, I will strongly recommend doing the ISO. It can help me think about which problem to solve, what is the significance and how to solve the problem. From it, I can follow my passion and learn more about the research skills like paper reading, report writing and problem-solving.

What are your plans after completing your degree?

After completing my degree, I want to pursue a Ph.D. degree focusing on Vulnerability Detection and Access Control Policy.

Could you tell us a little about yourself and about your studies before coming to Imperial?

I am originally from China. Before coming to Imperial, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Technology at Renmin University of China. I also studied Cyber Security as my minor. During my third year of college, I studied at Macquarie University in Sydney as an exchange student. My four years’ of undergraduate experience stimulated my interest in Computing and laid a solid foundation for my further study.

What attracted you to your degree?

One thing which attracted me most is the wide range of options that the degree can offer. As a MAC (MSc Advanced Computing) student, except for one compulsory module, I can choose to take courses that interest me during the first two terms (Autumn and Spring). The variety of courses can also satisfy everyone’s needs. It is exactly one of the most important reasons why I chose the program. Because of my undergraduate experience, I am highly interested in both Machine Learning and Security. Here, MAC helps me dig deep into the cross area of Machine Learning and Security by offering courses like Advanced Computer Security, Deep Learning, Mathematics for Machine Learning. Also, I enjoyed myself when studying other modules like Prolog and Knowledge Representation, etc.

What do you enjoy the most?

It is so hard to just pick one as my favourite. Generally, I enjoy the learning atmosphere when we discuss with lecturers in class. The timely feedback we get from our previous coursework and the lab sessions improve our understanding of the materials mentioned in class. During lectures, we are often introduced some state-of-art models or architectures. One thing worth mentioning is the ISO (Individual Study Option), which is something I am currently doing and find quite helpful and interesting. ISO enables me to research an interesting topic with the guidance of my supervisor.

What do you find more challenging?

As many state-of-art materials discussed in the lectures comes from recent conference papers, I do need to go through these papers to follow the lecturers and better understand these concepts. At first, it is challenging to digest these papers. But I can feel my progress as I keep reading and doing notes in the margins.

Also, as it is my first year in London, it is not challenging but it takes time for me to get used to life in London, including the diets and weather.

What do you do in your spare time?

During my spare time, I will go jogging along the river bank. Also, I joined the Table Tennis Team at Imperial. Practically, I will attend the four-hour social session and two-hour training session every week.

What is your advice for prospective students?

I think for students who want to explore more about Computing, like but not limited to Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and IoT Security, Advanced Computing is the ideal program in that it not only provides various selective modules but also help crystalize the career or research plan. It is a taught program. But for those prospective students who want to pursue a Ph.D. or research-oriented job, I will strongly recommend doing the ISO. It can help me think about which problem to solve, what is the significance and how to solve the problem. From it, I can follow my passion and learn more about the research skills like paper reading, report writing and problem-solving.

What are your plans after completing your degree?

After completing my degree, I want to pursue a Ph.D. degree focusing on Vulnerability Detection and Access Control Policy.