Her parents had only elementary education and she grew up in a remote town; now she is pursuing a PhD in the US and researching blood-flow simulations

Linjie Ying, a first-generation college student from a remote mountainous town in China, is pursuing a PhD in computational mathematics in the United States. Growing up with limited academic guidance at home, she attended boarding school before earning her bachelor's and master's degrees in China. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she is researching mathematical methods used in fluid-structure interaction simulations, including blood flow through flexible blood vessels, under Professor Pengtao Sun's mentorship.