When Liu Bowen entered Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU), he gave up his original dream of studying physics and instead pursued the broad discipline of computer science.
Four years later, he graduated at the top of his cohort and received offers from world-leading universities including Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University.
Liu Bowen
Class of 2026, Department of Statistics and Data Science
Offer: Master of Computational Data Science Programme, Carnegie Mellon University;
Master of Science in Biostatistics, Yale University
“I’m not a typical top student,” Liu said. Rather than relying on long hours in the library, he learned through practice, projects, and constant exploration.
A turning point came when he attended a programme introduction by Prof Ye Huajun, Associate Dean at the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST). His explanation of Data Science showed him how technology could solve real-world problems. Encouraged by later conversations with Prof Ye, Liu gradually found both his direction and confidence.
At BNBU, group projects became another important training ground. Initially uncomfortable with teamwork, Liu volunteered to become a team leader during a C++ course and soon realised that completing a project required more than technical skills, it also demanded communication, leadership, and collaboration. Over time, he actively took on leadership roles in almost every team assignment.
Liu Bowen receives the National Scholarship
Competitions, internships, and research further accelerated his growth. Through Kaggle competitions, he and his teammates won three bronze medals in fields such as machine learning and image matching. He also interned at organisations including China Unicom and Inspur Group, applying data science to real industrial scenarios.
Under the guidance of Dr Chen Donglong of FST, Liu gradually developed a rigorous research mindset. From aerospace materials analysis to medical image learning, his research projects were later presented at international conferences, including AIPR 2025 and ICME 2026.
Liu Bowen with Dr Chen Donglong (right)
Despite balancing competitions, research, internships, IELTS, and GRE preparation, Liu graduated with a CGPA of 3.94. For him, success was never about studying the longest hours, but about finding the right rhythm and staying focused.
This autumn, Liu will begin a research-based master’s degree in computational data science at Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on multimodal large models. Looking back, he believes BNBU gave him more than academic achievements. It gave him the confidence to explore, grow, and actively shape his own future.
From MPRO
Reporter: Cecilia Yu
Photos provided by Juan Rengifo and the interviewee
Video produced by Cecilia Yu and Juan Rengifo
