佳绩 | 清华附中国际部学子斩获丘成桐中学科学奖！

The research project that I did for the 2021 S. -T. Yau Science Award (Physics Award) is actually part of an extended project that I started a year and a half ago as part of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) collaboration. This year, I developed a data pipeline that automates the analysis of images for identifying false positives among exoplanet candidates. This project was much more involved than my previous projects, consisting of an in-depth literature review, large amounts of data analysis, and computer programming. 

When I started working on this project at the start of summer 2021, I knew there was a risk that I wouldn’t be able to complete it, both because I had virtually no prior experience in this area and because of the short 2.5-month timeframe that I faced. I encountered many obstacles along the way, but was eventually able to overcome them with perseverance and help from other programmers in the TESS collaboration. 

Overall, this project has greatly increased my interest in astronomy, and has made me realize the interdisciplinary connections between math, computer science, and physics/astronomy. As I major in physics in college and continue to conduct research in astronomy, I’ll also devote time to learning in these related fields to help me tackle more advanced projects.

Devin and I had attended the biology track for the 2021 Yau award competition. The most valuable harvest/ lessons that I have learn throughout this process will definitely be the difficulties of doing scientific research and the power of biology. This experience not only teaches me how much work a scientific research requires, but it also promote critical thinking among biological problems these days. 

At the start, I wasn’t expecting much, I just want to use my own knowledge to maybe solve or help detect a biological problem that is harmful to the society. So every time that I got promoted I was very excited and even insane, and the bronze award that I had got this time was way over my expectations. 

One part that I think I had developed a lot on maybe the ability to be patient and critical. This process taught me what is scientific research. It is definitely not something that can be success on the first trials, there are always thousands and even millions of failing behind. 

This competition promote my overall interest toward biology and change my opinion of “O biology is easy to learn and it is fun, so I should aim it as my intended major” to having my own interesting idea and recognition toward different biological problems. I felt like this competition make my future clearer, and cause me to have more motivation.

The most important thing about the Yau Shing Tung Science Award is the ability to manage time. We had to conduct scientific research align with completing our schoolwork, so we inevitably run out of time. One of the most memorable times for me was the week or two before the final defense, when I had two exams and four projects to do, I even thought of giving up, but finally I gritted my teeth and insisted on completing a series of tasks and preparing all the materials needed for the defense. My advice for junior students is that work on your time managing and don’t stay up late!