I got my BA (Chinese Linguistics) and MA (Experimental Phonetics) from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, Beijing, China. My advisor at Peking University was Prof. SHEN, Jiong, who specializes in Chinese intonation.

I had only Phonetics in mind when I first came to U of C Linguistics. My interest in Computational Linguistics was developed through several courses I took from Prof. John Goldsmith and Prof. Sean Fulop. When I was visiting the Department of Linguistics at Yale University as an exchange scholar in the 2003-04 academic year, I learned Articulatory Phonology from Prof. Louis Goldstein. I also went to Haskins Laboratories a lot, where I worked with Dr. Yi Xu on several projects. I became interested in Statistics while taking the course "Probability and Statistics for Scientists" from Prof. Joseph Chang in the Statistics department at Yale University. Thinking of "what to do next" in the final class, it occurred to me that I might as well pursue a Master's degree in Statistics. So, between 2004 and 2006, I studied for a Master's degree in Statistics at the University of Chicago while continuing my pursuit for a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics. My dissertation committee members are Prof. Alan Yu (chair), Prof. Gina-Anne Levow, and Prof. John Goldsmith.

In January 2008, I became a research assistant for Dr. Lauren Stewart in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, working on the project "Fractionating the Musical Mind: Insights from Congenital Amusia". With my phonetics background, I focus on testing whether disordered musical processing also has implications for language processing, the production and perception of speech prosody, in particular.

Here is my C.V., in case you'd like to know more about me. :)