On July 25, 1975, I was born in Jing Zhou, a famous historical city on the north side of Chang Jiang   (Yangzi River) in China. There are four people in my family and we enjoy a happy, harmonious family life. Both of my parents serve in a local government and hold managerial positions. Hoping that one day their son will become an educated man useful to the country and society, they have always encouraged me to study hard and pursue higher education. In my childhood and youth years, I heard a lot of stories about how well- known scientists struggled in their strive towards success. Since then I have made up my mind to set up career goals in academic area and studied hard in schools. As a result, I have performed well all the way in my studies from primary level till now, postgraduate level.

          In 1990, when I was 15, through extremely competitive exams and interviews, I was selected by Xi'an Jiaotong University, one of the top five university in China, and entered the Juvenile Class. In China, only the most exceptional youths in high schools can be admitted into such classes in top universities. Thus I finished my high school studies in only one year instead of the usual three. During the first year in Xi'an Jiaotong University, I studied the preparatory courses and ranked among the top five students in class. Since the university is regarded as the cradle of engineers in China, I chose electrical engineering as my major. Upon graduation, I have won the Excellent Student Scholarship (top 10%) for three times due to my excellent academic performance.

        Though specialized in engineering as an undergraduate, I took great effort to read extensively after class. At that time China was experiencing the fastest economic growth and her open-door policy had achieved great success. Accompanying the foreign investment, various Western academic theories and ideas poured into China's university campus. It was natural that I got in touch with some concepts in social sciences, especially in economics and management sciences. For example, I studied the popular economics text ECONOMICS by Paul A. Samuelson. I also read some classics in management, such as MANAGEMENT by Koonts, Harold and MARKETING MANAGEMENT by Philip, Kotler. I found that there was a completely different way of thinking about the social and economic phenomenon, and became interested in those subjects. Furthermore, I knew that the transition of China's economy would result in great demand in skilled people such as economists and managers who may play important roles in China's economic reform. After some time of thinking, I decided to change my major from engineering to something which may better fit my interests and meet the demand of the country at the same time.

         In early 1997, I was offered a research scholarship and became a research scholar in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering in National University of Singapore. My present advisor is Professor Ang Beng Wah, who specializes in energy system studies and has published extensively in his domains. Under Professor Ang's supervision, I have done some research in energy economics and co-authored several papers involving system modeling and application of statistical models to economic and industrial systems. As a requirement for master's degree, I have also taken two courses (Advanced Engineering Statistics and Statistical Quality Control) and got A+ and A, respectively.