RESIDENT PROFILE

"hen I got the letter about the scholarship, I was so surprised and happy. My experience in I-House will be of value to me for all my life," says Hui who is in the first year of the Ph.D. program in statistics.

" want to thank all of the alumni who contribute to scholarship funds. This scholarship made it possible for me to come to Berkeley and to continue my studies."

ui is the seventh student to benefit from the RR/GA Scholarship which was established by alumni from the Golden Age (the post-war years from 1946 to 1952), to honor Costa Rican alumnus Rafael Rodriquez. The scholarship is awarded to a "foreign student of great promise but without the resources to live in the U.S." The fund also provides a modest stipend.

ui completed her Bachelor's degree in computer science at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei. She grew up in Fuzhou in southeastern China, across the straits from Taiwan. Her father works for an electronics development company and her mother works for a company that manufactures digital clocks. Comparatively, salaries are much lower in China making it impossible for her parents to provide financial assistance.

he top-rated Statistics Department attracted Hui to Berkeley. "When I first came, I was very uneasy, being in such a different environment. Living in the I-House really helps me a lot. It gives me a good chance to practice English and I make many friends here. They help me overcome the homesickness. We exchange our experiences about our homelands and thus enlarge our understanding. At dinner, I sit with people from all over the world. It is my dream to travel."

ui enjoys participating in many activities in I-House. When she first arrived she went on the orientation retreat for new residents. She enjoys social dance class, aerobics, Sunday Suppers and third-floor parties and helped with preparations for the Chinese New Year's celebration.

ecently, she was awarded a fellowship for next year and will be a Graduate Student Instructor, teaching an introductory course in statistics.

ui plans to focus on bio-statistics, combining her interests in computers, statistics, and biology. She hopes to complete her studies in May, 2001. "Statistics is a comparatively new science. Now, with computers, we can do so much more."

ot surprisingly, her parents hope she will return to China but she feels there are more opportunities in her field in the United States. "The standard of science in China is not so high but this is changing."

y coincidence, Hui shares an office with Vlada Limic, from Croatia, who received the RR/GA Scholarship two years ago. The first recipient, Slobodan Simic, is now a lecturer in the math department at USC.