“To me, math is not only a tool to solve mathematical problems, but also a way to think critically and logically in daily life”
Yue's Biography
Yue Dong is currently a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa majoring in Mathematics and minoring in computer science. She has recently completed research on rainbow paths in circulant digraphs under the supervision of Dr. Mateja Sajna. She wrote a Python program to check Brian Alspach’s circulant digraph conjectures. The program was used to demonstrate the conjectures on all connection sets of cardinality up to seven, whereas the conjectures had only been verified with connection sets of cardinality up to five in earlier research.
During her third year as an undergraduate, Yue completed research on universal consistency of the k-nearest neighbors classifier under the supervision of Dr. Vladimir Pestov. She was able to prove that this classifier is not universally consistent in infinite-dimensional Banach spaces. The result couldbe very useful in statistical learning theory, which is the mathematical foundation for machine learning. She will continue the research on machine learning theory under the supervision of Dr. Pestov in her master’s program.
The most important skill I am glad I learned in university is teamwork. Contrary to popular belief, doing mathematics is not a solitary endeavor, instead it frequently involves teamwork and constant exchange of ideas between mathematicians. In my opinion, discussing problems with other students is the best way to learn mathematics. Only when you can explain a problem to others, do you truly understand it yourself.
I like to work as a research assistant during the summer because it gives me a chance to interact closely with mathematics professors. Working with them is a lot of fun, because they treat their students as their colleagues and value students’ opinions with respect.
I spend a lot of time with my family and friends to relax when I am not working. I enjoy playing the game Dance Dance Revolution or go to fitness classes when I am alone. Spending energy on physical activities makes memore productive at work.
Yes. Mathematics is always what I wanted to learn when I was a kid. My father, a mathematics professor in China, kept telling me how beautiful mathematics is. So doing mathematics is like a childhood dream to me. I am glad that I am doing it right now.
I want to say that mathematics is fun. It is not a field restricted to men. Women can do very well in mathematics. More and more women are involved in mathematics combined with economics, finance, and computer science. If you like mathematics, go for it!
To me, math is… challenging, rewarding and fun. It is both logical and creative. It is not only a tool to solve mathematical problems, but also a way to think critically and logically in daily life.
