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How does a petite law school graduate from one of China's most prestigious universities wind up coming to OSU to pursue an MS degree in computer science, and in the process become very involved with that uniquely American, roughand-tumble sport, football?
Sometimes, life's path unfurls in interesting ways.
Lanyue Xu, who lost her father in an accident when she was three years old and was raised by her schoolteacher mother, has always been interested in computer science. But when she was accepted to study law at one of the five best universities in China-- Shanghai's Fudan University--she couldn't say no. After she graduated and passed the bar exam, she followed her husband, Jipeng Li, to Corvallis, where he was a PhD student in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. Holding only an F2 visa, Xu couldn't take a job and quickly grew bored at home. "I decided to have my own life," she says. So she enrolled at OSU to pursue a master's degree--in the field she's always been drawn to: computer science.
Working with professor Ron Metoyer, Xu has helped develop a tangible interface training system that football coaches and players can use to create and test plays on a virtual football field. The technology behind the system can also be used in urban design to interact with and study pedestrian flows and potentially create content for the training of emergency personnel.
"I've come to like football," Xu says. "I often watch it on TV." But her dream is to work in computer animation. "Someday, I'd like to make a great animated film," she says. "Like Ice Ageor Monsters, Inc." This fall, armed with their graduate degrees, she and her husband head for Boston--just in time for the height of football season. Catch!
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Catch! Computer Science graduate student Lanyue Xu is helping tackle spatial information research that will help a wide range of people do their jobs better--from coaches and quarterbacks to firefighters and architects.
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