Growing up surrounded by mountains in a small town in China, Linjie Ying used education as a way to continuously grow her world view. Her parents spent their days making bamboo furniture and ladders to support their family and allowing Ying the opportunity to continue her schooling.

Her family didn’t have a car and her parents worked long hours making a daily commute to school a challenge. A common reality for many families in the region, boarding school often becomes the solution. For Ying this meant living in a dormitory throughout middle and high school.

“From elementary school to university, each stage of my education brought me to a bigger city and introduced me to new people, ideas, and experiences,” says Ying, now a computational mathematics Ph.D. student at UNLV. “Every time I moved some where new I realized how much more there was to discover beyond the world I had grown up in.”

A first-generation college student, she attended Zhejiang University in China. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computational mathematics she decided to pursue her doctoral degree in the United States. The opportunity to work with her faculty mentor Pengtao Sun, a professor in the department of mathematics, was a deciding factor in her choice to attend UNLV. Sun credits both her intellectual ability and determination as the reason behind her success and progress while in the program.

“Since joining our program, she has made substantial research contributions and has received fellowships and scholarships from the Graduate College in successive years. It has been deeply rewarding to see her develop into an increasingly independent and accomplished researcher,” Sun says.

From a young age Ying learned to be independent and make her own choices regarding her future. Her parents had only an elementary school education and, although they worked hard to support her, could not offer a lot of advice around educational goals. It was up to Ying to forge her own path and find other resources and connections that could help her along the way.

Those experiences have resulted in advice she can pass on to other first-generation students. “Build connections with your classmates, advisors, and professors as much as possible,” says Ying. “If your family cannot provide the academic or career guidance you need, do not be afraid to look for support elsewhere. There are many people around you who have knowledge and experience that they are willing to share.”

Ying’s journey from a small mountain town to a Ph.D. program at UNLV is less about leaving home behind and more about her continued expansion of what home can mean. She has built a community of mentors and peers along the way, and hopes other first-generation students know they don’t have to find their path entirely alone.

Here, Ying reflects on her research and the role mentorship has played in her academic journey.

Tell us about your research.

My research is in computational mathematics, with a focus on developing numerical methods for fluid-structure interaction problems. These problems arise when a fluid interacts with a moving or deformable structure — for example, blood flowing through blood vessels, airflow interacting with an aircraft wing, or water interacting with flexible structures.

A major part of my work is developing finite element methods that can accurately and efficiently simulate these interactions, especially when the structure undergoes large deformation and the computational domain changes over time. My goal is not only to develop computational methods, but also to provide mathematical analysis that explains why these methods are stable, accurate, and reliable.

What excites me most is the connection between mathematics and real-world physical problems. A complicated physical interaction can first be described by mathematical equations and then transformed into a computational method that allows us to simulate and understand its behavior.

I especially enjoy the combination of mathematical analysis and scientific computing. On one side, I can study the mathematical properties of a numerical method and prove that it is stable and accurate. On the other side, I can implement the method computationally and actually see the physical system evolve in a simulation. Seeing the theory and computation agree is one of the most rewarding parts of my research.

Why should your research matter to the general public?

My work is fundamental research, so people may not see an immediate product coming directly from it. But reliable simulations depend on reliable mathematics.

People may not think about fluid-structure interaction in their everyday lives, but it is actually all around us. Blood flows through flexible blood vessels, air moves around aircraft wings, and water interacts with bridges and other structures. All of these involve fluids interacting with moving or deformable structures.

Scientists and engineers often use computer simulations to understand these systems because experiments can be expensive, difficult, or sometimes impossible to perform under every condition. My research develops the mathematical and computational methods behind these simulations, with the goal of making them more accurate and reliable, particularly when the geometry changes significantly.

By improving the numerical methods behind those simulations, we can give scientists and engineers better tools to understand complex systems and ultimately make better-informed designs and decisions.

What inspired you to get into your field?

When I was young, I really enjoyed the feeling of solving problems, especially math problems. I was attracted to the strict logic of mathematics and the fact that, in many of the problems I encountered at the time, there was a clear sense of whether an answer was right or wrong.

[As an undergraduate] I thought I was more interested in pure mathematics, but I struggled with how the mathematics I was learning could be used to solve real-world problems.

During my last year of college, I met a mathematics professor who also had a Ph.D. in civil engineering. He was passionate about transforming mathematical ideas into computational methods that could be used to solve real-world problems. That was the first time I really saw how the mathematics I had been learning could connect with practical applications.

I realized that I wanted to use mathematics to do something useful and contribute to solving real-world problems. I asked him to become my master's advisor, and that decision led me into applied and computational mathematics and eventually to the research field I work in today.

Tell us about working with your UNLV faculty mentor Pengtao Sun and what that has taught you about mentoring students.

Working with Dr. Sun has inspired me in many ways, both in my research and in how I think about my future career. His research in numerical methods and computational mathematics was closely related to the direction I wanted to pursue after my master's degree. I saw UNLV as a place where I could continue developing both the mathematical theory and computational skills needed for applied research.

Dr. Sun has always been patient when I do not understand something in my research, willing to take the time to guide me through difficult problems. Beyond research, his kindness and understanding when I have faced challenges in my personal life have shown me that being a good mentor is not only about helping students become better researchers, but also about caring about them as people.

This has influenced how I think about mentoring other students. It has taught me to be patient when students do not understand something right away, to listen to the difficulties they are facing, and to offer support when I can. I hope that, as I become more experienced, I can give other students the same kind of guidance and encouragement that I have received from Dr. Sun.

What does it mean to you to be a first-generation college student, and what advice do you have for other first-gen students?

To me, there are both challenges and benefits to being a first-generation college student. By the time I was in middle school, my parents could no longer help me with my schoolwork or give me much advice about school life. I knew that if I missed something or did not understand something in class, I could not go home and ask my parents for help. At that time, I did not have a tutor or even a computer to look for answers, so I had to pay close attention in class and try to understand as much as I could on my own. Looking back, I think that experience taught me to be independent and responsible for my own education.

I remember when I entered middle school and started living in a dormitory, it was the first time I had access to a restroom that was not the dirty and unpleasant public restroom I had been used to. That may sound like a very small thing, but I still remember how much it meant to me at the time. I think that was when I began to realize, in a very concrete way, that education could change my life.

From then on, I started to value school and knowledge differently. I began to see education as a way to improve my circumstances, experience a larger world, and create more possibilities for my future.

At the same time, being a first-generation student also gave me an unexpected kind of freedom. Because my parents were unfamiliar with college and different academic fields, they did not try to influence my academic decisions. When I entered college, I was free to choose the major that genuinely interested me. In that sense, I had a great deal of freedom to explore my own interests and decide what I wanted to pursue.

Students today have access to resources that I did not have when I was younger. Even AI can be a useful tool for finding information, discovering opportunities, and learning how to make the most of college. But I would not rely on AI too much. Technology can provide information, but it cannot replace genuine connections with your peers, professors, and mentors.

I have also learned that most professors are much more approachable than they may seem. They are often very happy to help when they see you are genuinely interested in learning and that you approach them with respect. My advice is to be independent, but do not confuse independence with having to figure out everything alone.

For me, the greatest value of education is not simply earning a degree, but gaining the knowledge, confidence, and freedom to see more possibilities for your future. I hope other first-generation students can find those possibilities for themselves as well.