Merge pull request #2 from nmrenyi/intro

Intro

README.md

@@ -78,3 +78,7 @@ This will generate a static version in `personal-site/build/` which you can host
 - Initial template from [Future Imperfect](https://html5up.net/future-imperfect) by [@ajlkn](https://github.com/ajlkn) for [HTML5 UP](html5up.net).
 - Special thanks to [@typpo](https://github.com/typpo) for tirelessly answering all of my node.js and react questions.
 - Kudos to [@notrueblood](https://github.com/notrueblood)[<sup>[1]</sup>](https://github.com/mldangelo/personal-site/pull/218) and [@sjhsieh](https://github.com/sjhsieh)[<sup>[2]</sup>](https://github.com/mldangelo/personal-site/issues/168) for their constructive feedback.
+
+## TODO
+- [ ] add youtube channel tag in src/data/contact.js
+

src/components/Template/SideBar.js

@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ const SideBar = () => (
         Now I'm somewhere deciding my future,
         whether it's about continuing my research into recommendation system
         or switching to a more challenging and theoretical direction, quantum computing.
+        Or I could give up being a researcher and do something else,
+        like a diplomat or an investor maybe?
+        If you have any advice for me, I'm always willing to hear.
+        Please contact me by <a href="mailto:[email protected]">email</a>!
       </p>
       <ul className="actions">
         <li>

src/data/about.md

@@ -1,7 +1,30 @@
 # Intro
 
-I am the VP of Engineering at Smile Identity, where I work on tools that have helped over 90 million people in Africa gain access to financial services. Before Smile, I was the co-founder & CTO of [Arthena](https://arthena.com) and a co-founder of [Matroid](https://matroid.com). In my spare time, I enjoy investing in people and ideas through a [small venture fund](https://skepticalinvestments.biz). I am particularly interested in projects with high social impact. If you think I can be helpful to you or your cause and would like to meet, please feel free to get in touch.
+I am a PhD student in Tsinghua University. I got my bachlor's degree from Department of Computer Science and Technology in Tsinghua University in 2022. Back in 2018, I was admitted into [Tsinghua University](https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/) with the highest score in Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia. I was admitted into Tsinghua University in 2018, so I am a member of the "eight number student", 八字班 in a Chinese, which is a traditional way to tell which year students were admitted among Tsinghua students.
 
+Actually I was born in Tumote Youqi (土默特右旗), Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China. It's a small town when I was born, and now 2023 still. There aren't good education resources, compared to large cities. Owing to work reasons, my parents moved to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China in 2003 when I was 4 years old. Of course I moved to Hohhot with my parents. I'm really grateful to my parents for making this decision to move to the capital city of Inner Mongolia, where the education resource is much better than the small town I was born in. If it's not for their endeavour, I would never got a broad knowledge about the world. I owe my parents a lot. They're always the strongest supporter of mine.
+
+Back to myself. I had my happy days growing up in Hohhot, where the skies are blue and the fields are green. From 2006 to 2012, I had my primary school in Qingshan Primary School (青山小学). I had several class headmasters during these 6 years, one of whom, named Kai Wang (王恺) influenced me the most. He taught dedication, discipline and passion not only with words, but also with his action. I'm really grateful to him for giving me an unforgettable experience in my primary school. Also I want to mention my English teacher in my primary school, Ruishu Li(李睿姝). She once said to my mother that Ren Yi is good at learning language. These words were deeply carved in my mind and encouraged my interest and dedication into learning English and even other languages like French and German. I'm really lucky to meet all these teachers!
+
+
+After primary school, I was admitted into the so-called the best class in the best middle school in Hohhot. During the three years, 2012-2015 in the Experimental Middle School in Hohhot, I went through a tough training in schoolwork. More discipline and dedication were required at that time and most teachers were strict at that time. The headmaster of my class was Yuefei Mao(毛跃飞), who was a perfectionist in nearly everything, from schoolwork to discipline and even the clothes students wore. He was a true professionist in teaching English. I'm really grateful for his requirements in English learning, especially in grammar and vocabulary, which laid a solid foundation for my English learning in the future. Another teacher that influened me the most is Huijuan Shi(石慧娟). She was my maths teacher and she was also very professional. I was deeply impressed by her personality and caring for students. When I got a unpromising score before the High School Entrance Examination(中考), not as other teachers who judged me and began to see me differently, she encouraged me by saying that you'll have a good score in the coming High School Entrace Examination. If you're not admitted into the best high school in Hohhot, then it's gotta be the loss of that school. Buried in despair and panic, her words cast light on my depressed heart. I didn't give up and finally I was admitted into the best high school in Hohhot with the score ranking 2nd in Hohhot. I cannot be grateful enough for these teachers who helped me and encouraged me when I was down.
+
+In the Second Middle School of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, I had a intense training for the College Entrance Examination from 2015 to 2018. I think it's quite a pity that all these years were goaled by examination after examination. We should be encouraged to explore more besides schoolwork. During these 3 years in the Second Middle School, the headmaster of my class is Zhigang Zhang(张志刚). He taught us Chinese and he knew a lot about literature and history. Also he cared about the students' schoolwork a lot. If it's not for his commitment to us, I won't  get such a good score in College Entrace Examination. Another teacher who gave me a lot of inspirations is Wenyin Zhao(赵文印). He was my maths teacher at that time. He seemed to be quite sloppy about his teaching and maths. Sometimes he was a bit late for his class. Even if he appears in class, he always walked in casually, wearing casual shirts and pants, without books or notes in his hand. He just picked a textbook from a random student and used his/her book to teach. Despite his sloppiness, I really love this man! He really knows what he is doing and what's behind these maths problems. Concepts are what he cares the most, which I believe is the most important thing in mathematics. I like the way that he doesn't care much about the weird questions in the examination and he always put emphasis on basic concepts and basic problems. It's a life philosophy of minimalism, always seeking for the essence of things. I love that! His ideas not only applied for the maths examinations for College Entrance Examniation, but also perfectly suits the learning of advanced mathematics. I benefit all this way learning mathematics from his ideas! Thank you, genius Wenyin (谢谢你，神印). Other teachers were also excellent in the Second Middle School of Hohhot. I love talking with the teachers there! I think the Second Middle School has lived up to its reputation as the best high school in Inner Mongolia, China. Hope it will continue to progress and nourish more outstanding students to have a soul of China and horizon of the world (中国灵魂，世界眼光)!
+
+
+I got the highest score in the science part of the College Entrance Examination in Hohhot (ranking the 10th in Inner Mongolia), so I got admitted into the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University. I'm grateful for Shangfeng Pan(潘尚峰) who was in the admission committee in Inner Mongolia for helping me choose my major. My class supervisor is Junhui Deng(邓俊辉), a professor in Department of Computer Science and Technology in Tsinghua University. He is really caring about students' life and career. He did everything he could to help the students get a promising future. Personally I also got a lot of help when talking to him. Here I want to express my sincere gratitude towards Junhui Deng! I also met some senior students who were responsible for the students growth in the department. They were Xiaohan Li(李晓涵), Chenyang Wang (王晨阳), Yueru Li(李玥儒), Yunqiu Shao(邵韵秋), Ming Yang(杨明), Zhenyu Hou(侯振宇). They helped me a lot from various aspects like social work, research, career future plans, etc. I'm quite lucky to have them during my undergraduate time! I also met a lot reliable friends during my time in my undergraduate period. They were extremely excellent in all aspects, like academia, social work, sports, innovation, etc. The friendship with them is the most valuable thing I've ever got in Tsinghua University. Here I wanna express my particular gratitude to Jiang Feng(冯江) and Yi Xu (bx2k 徐懿). They are always by my side sharing my joy and sorrow. Without your help, I won't even be here writing my words. Also I wanna say thank you to Xiaoyu Zhang(张潇宇) and Yuzhuo Bai(白钰卓) for their caring about me when I was in my most difficult times. Thanks for your solid support! I won't forget the ones who have helped me during my low periods. If you guys need any help from me, I'm always here any time.
+
+
+I began my research in recommendation system under the supervision of Professor Min Zhang(张敏) in 2020. I went through various projects and practised my skills in coding during these years. I was formally admitted as a PhD student in 2022 after my undergraduate graduation. However, I found myself not so recognizing the basic assumptions and methods used in this area, like siginificance test, model training randomness and the social value and recommendation systems. So I think I should consider other directions in research or other possibilities in my life. It's really nice of Min Zhang to give me the chance to explore more. I wanna say thank you to her.
+
+Now I'm quite in between things. I could choose to continue my research in recommendation system, not thinking about the doubts I have (well it doesn't seem possible for me to continue with a lot of doubt...), or I could switch to other directions like quantum computing, which has a solid theoretical foundation and could convince me of its courrectness under the basic postulates of quantum mechanics. It sounds really exciting, but also extremely challenging! I think I'll give it a try!
+
+At last I want to express the most sincere gratitude to my parents, Cuiying Zhang(张翠英) and Xilin Ren(任喜林) again. Thanks for your unconditional love and belief in me. I'll always treasure you! Although you guys are not perfect, as every human being, I think you have done your best to offer me the best and I cannot expect better parents than you guys.  最后我想再一次向我的父母（张翠英和任喜林）表达我最诚挚的感谢。谢谢你们对我无条件的爱和信任。我会一直珍惜你们。即使你们并不完美，世上也并没有完美的人，我觉得你们已经尽你们所能给予了我最好的东西，我想象不到能有比你们更优秀的父母了。
+
+
+
+
+<!-- 
 # Some history
 
 - My parents put a computer in my bedroom in 1993 when I was 3. It was an old Tandy that ran MS-DOS. My favorite games were Street Rod 2, Wolfenstein 3D, and Tom and Jerry. It had a mechanical keyboard and a turbo button. To this day, I still don't know what pressing the turbo button really did.
@@ -34,22 +57,34 @@ I am the VP of Engineering at Smile Identity, where I work on tools that have he
 
 - At 20, I co-authored a grant to build a satellite and managed a 60+ person team for the next two years. You can read more about that [here](https://ubnl.space/glados/).
 
-Ask me in person for other stories that I'm afraid to share with the internet.
+Ask me in person for other stories that I'm afraid to share with the internet. -->
 
 # I like
 
-- Running
-- Skiing
-- Sailing and the sea
+- Freedom
+- Love
+- Life
 - Space
-- Summer
-- [Books](https://www.goodreads.com/mdangelo)
+- Sunshine
+- Blue Sky
+- Clean Water
+- Green Grassland
+- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
+- Books (colourful, hardcover books particularly)
+- Classical Music (particularly Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a, Scène (Act II No. 10))
+- Mutton (Traditional Mongolian Hotpot)
+- Shining Jeweries (Swarovski, Tiffany, etc.)
+- Photography
+- Running (3-10km)
+- Cycling
+
+<!-- - [Books](https://www.goodreads.com/mdangelo)
 - Colored pencils ([Faber-Castell Polychromos](https://www.faber-castell.com/products/art-and-graphic/polychromos))
 - Podcasts ([The Daily](https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily), [The Ezra Klein Show](https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast), [Planet Money](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/), [The Indicator](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510325/the-indicator-from-planet-money), [This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/), [99% Invisible](https://99percentinvisible.org/episodes/), [The Economist](http://radio.economist.com/), [Radiolab](https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolab), [Hidden Brain](https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain), [Inquiring Minds](https://inquiring.show), and others)
 - [Good design](/)
-- [Photography](https://instagram.com/dangelosaurus)
+- [Photography](https://instagram.com/dangelosaurus) -->
 
-# Travel / Geography
+<!-- # Travel / Geography
 
 - I am originally from Buffalo, New York. I have since lived in Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City.
 - I've been to approximately 50 countries, some of which I have forgotten, many of which I would like to revisit.
@@ -99,4 +134,4 @@ Ask me in person for other stories that I'm afraid to share with the internet.
 - [Tom Sachs](https://www.tomsachs.org/)
 - [Will Holley](https://willholley.com)
 
-If we are friends and you feel like you belong on this list, you're probably right. Submit a PR, or ask me and I'll add you.
+If we are friends and you feel like you belong on this list, you're probably right. Submit a PR, or ask me and I'll add you. -->