How is Su Meng, a professor from Peking University to a leader in the big data industry, tempered?

1 1 years ago, Professor Vithala R. Rao, a master figure in the field of international marketing model, said to his favorite student Su Meng on the other side of the beautiful Kayuga Lake, "Think again and stay in the United States to teach. You will become a very good scholar. " Su Meng seems to have no reason to refuse the earnest retention of the tutor, the invitation of several famous American universities and the good academic research environment.

"The belief in returning to China at that time was very firm. I believe that with what I have learned, I can play a greater role in the motherland and promote the development of data modeling and quantitative research in China. " Su Meng recalled his choice. In 2006, he resolutely gave up the superior foreign conditions and became the first person to graduate from Ivy League University in the field of marketing modeling research.

After years of hard work at Peking University, he has achieved remarkable research results. His subject was selected as a key project of the National Natural Science Foundation and became an academic leader in the field of marketing model. He resigned as a teacher again and devoted himself to hard work.

Today, under the leadership of Su Meng, it has been a leading enterprise in the field of big data and artificial intelligence since it was founded eight years ago.

In the office of Percent, a simple room that has visited many top domestic scientists, academicians, economists and world-renowned business leaders, the reporter met Su Meng, a free, rational and modest academic CEO wearing a navy sports T-shirt.

China triathlon student at Cornell University.

In Su Meng's office, in addition to the family photos on the bookshelf, there are several medals and competition photos of marathon and triathlon in the corner that attract the attention of reporters. The dark, thin but strong young man above stands out among a group of tall white people.

"I lost weight then!" Su Meng said with a smile, "I started to love triathlon at Cornell University. At that time, the academic pressure was very great, and I needed a sport to invest and release myself. " Su Meng likes the extreme devotion and self-challenge of this sport. "This is not a sport that competes with others, but a project with clear goals and needs constant self-breakthrough. The second half of the whole horse and Tiesan was not done by physical strength but by willpower. "

"Professor Su is a typical Capricorn, extremely tough and has a very strong belief and sense of purpose." Su Meng once instructed doctoral students to evaluate this.

Su Meng was born in an intellectual family in Shenyang, and his parents were both university professors. His parents gave him a relaxed environment since he was a child, and they didn't ask much for his grades. On the contrary, they often tell him that he is unique. As long as he constantly improves himself, he will naturally shine his talents and characteristics. "I am very grateful to my parents for giving me a relaxed and free growth environment, so that I know independence and persistence from an early age." Su Meng said.

From 65438 to 0997, Su Meng came to the United States alone, bid farewell to the black land where he grew up, and began his eight-year study abroad career. He has received two master's degrees and one doctor's degree from Cornell University. During this period, he also served as the chairman of China Students and Scholars Association of Cornell University, and organized many large-scale activities within and between schools.

Talking about the doctorate in marketing modeling, Su Meng said: "This is a compound major, which mainly uses the methods of statistics and econometrics to analyze quantitative models, so as to predict consumer behavior and market changes. In addition, I firmly believe that data science is of great value to the future business and society and will be widely used in various fields. "

The competition in this major borders on cruelty. At that time, only three people were recruited in the world, and one doctor was eliminated in the first year. Moreover, it is necessary to take and pass the doctoral qualification examination in the Department of Statistics or the Department of Economics of Cornell University, and the thesis defense is extremely demanding. "It will be much easier to master the method and grasp the essence of the topic." Finally, this clever and diligent China student handed in an excellent answer sheet.

Some turning points in life are triggered by accident. On the eve of doctoral graduation, I inadvertently browsed the forum, which was "nirvana in fire recruits heroes, and Wan Li knows the way home".

At that time, Peking University was recruiting returnees, and Su Meng stood out from more than 200 world-renowned college graduates. "Peking University's ideas of freedom, openness, fairness and justice are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The results of this recruitment interview are decided by the professor's anonymous vote. I am lucky to be the only one who was hired. " Talking about the trip home in those years again, Su Meng said this.

In the first three years of Peking University, it was normal for Su Meng to go back and forth repeatedly between the office, classroom and dormitory every day, and work continuously for more than ten hours. "At that time, I was quite a bit in Taoyuan. I didn't know there was a Han Chinese, regardless of the taste of Wei and Jin Dynasties. In those years, I have hardly been to any scenic spots in Beijing. I just teach and do research every day. " Recalling the past, Su Meng is still very emotional.

I can stand loneliness and look down. Immersed in academic research, Su Meng has produced many papers in the field of data science and published them in internationally renowned journals and international forums. His bold predictions about personalized supermarkets and personalized media in Personalization: The Future of Business are still very forward-looking today.

At the Davos Forum in the summer of 20 13, Su Meng delivered a keynote speech on "Big Data Business Revolution" on behalf of China scholars. In the fifth year of teaching at Peking University, he served as the director of Peking University Research Center and became the head of the key project of the National Natural Science Foundation, which is also the first national-level big data key project in this field. "As a young scholar who has just graduated for five years, this is a great honor and responsibility for me." Su Meng said.