Mansi: Um, hello and thank you again for joining
Dr. Qing Li: me here. Yes,
Mansi: Um, I want, um, just to begin with, if you can tell us about your background and, uh, how did you end up in this field?
Dr. Qing Li: Sure, sure. Uh, for background, do you mean educational background? Yes. Okay. Sure, sure. Um, I did my undergraduate studies in electrical engineering, um, back in China.
Um, then I went to University of Rochester, uh, for my master's degree, also in electrical engineering. And, uh, after I graduated I switched to stats PhD, uh, in Virginia Tech. And, uh, after that I. I worked as a visiting assistant professor, uh, in the Department of the state from University of Wisconsin Medicine.
And finally I came to ISU yeah. To work, um, in the industrial engineering department. Mm-hmm.
Mansi: Okay. Uh, and you have been at I S U from, um, how many years now?
Dr. Qing Li: Uh, 2018. So since 2018 now. Uh, five years. Okay.
Mansi: Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Um, so in terms of you being, so you are currently in the Department of Industrial Engineering, you said, right?
Yeah. So what kind of motivated you to be in this field, or even like choosing your bachelor's degree, what made you think, what was the motivation behind it? Hmm.
Dr. Qing Li: Yeah, it's mainly, uh, back in China, well, um, I would see like, like my parents, uh, consulted, uh, several people. And this thing, uh, electrical engineering is very promising.
Good to find a job. Okay. Yeah. It's mainly from that aspect. So I choose electrical engineering.
Mansi: Okay. Okay. No. Yeah, that's probably a lot of us who end up in a field, which is like, okay, my parents,
Dr. Qing Li: uh, and everyone around, like, it's,
Mansi: um, sometimes that is the motivation. So yeah. Thank you
Dr. Qing Li: for sharing. Oh, no problem.
Mansi: Um, so while you were in the field in terms of like when you did your bachelor's, master's mm-hmm. PhD. Were there any specific challenges because you belong to Asia or you belong to female? Because sometimes a lot of fields are dominated by, uh, males. So were there any specific challenges which you faced?
Dr. Qing Li: I feel it's really difficult for me to do those experiments. I mean, um, though I prepared very hard still. Yeah, it takes me, I mean, I just didn't
it or it, it's very hard for me. I did, uh, notice the difference between gender. Um, of course there are some, you know, there are are some. Female students still, they're very good.
Right? Um, but that's my observation. I think, uh, on the average there are some of the things, um, like the female, I mean, male students are better. Uh, doing those and at the same time, yeah, there are some of the fields that, I guess like language, right? Some of the things, yeah. Uh, the female students I think are better, uh, on the average.
Okay. Yes. Okay. I think, yeah, yeah, yeah. Indeed. Uh, I remember those years. I think, uh, it was challenging. Yeah. I feel frustrated, um, because I didn't. Uh, I feel like I didn't understand those. Um, yeah.
Mansi: Well, uh, so in terms of, uh, having challenges, how did you kind of overcome that? Because you started with like, just being the first or like the only female in the cohort.
So how did you manage everything with your studies and making sure that you do your masters and then PhD even though you had a kind of a rough start.
Dr. Qing Li: Yeah. Uh, for my first, yeah, my first semester, the cohort, I mean, I was in a, on the cohort that I was the only female student, but later, uh, I kind of changed the, A cohort.
Yeah, I changed the cohort. Okay. Yeah. Went to like in general, uh, to the department classes. Then like, uh, there are, I mean, in that cohort there are six out of 30. Uh, female students actually. So it, it, it becomes much better. Yeah. So now I, I like my roommates. Usually we try to discuss, we try to select the same classes so that like we ca
And discuss and, uh, um, do the homework together, et cetera. It makes things much easier. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah.
Mansi: Absolutely. So in terms of, um, mm-hmm. So that brings me to, and thi uh, makes me think about, uh, representation in class. So when you teach your classes right now mm-hmm. Or when you have like your faculty meetings, do you think that you have.
Enough representation of yourself out there, or, um, do you think it should be improved? In terms of like how we have students out? Mm-hmm. In our, especially industrial engineering. I don't remember any friend from industrial engineering so far.
Dr. Qing Li: Oh, okay. Indeed. Yeah. I think, um, for undergraduate students, maybe in general, there are 30% Mm.
Okay. Of female students, I think in general. And, uh, when you go to like, uh, graduate studies and then, uh, professional career, I think the, uh, the ratio is decreasing actually. Okay. So undergraduate, actually the ratio of female, it's actually the biggest. That's my impression. And then as you, uh, To move higher in education, et cetera?
Uh, female? Yeah. In general, I think it's di decreasing. For example, for, I think for tenure track, uh, faculty. Now in I s u, uh, female in engineering is roughly 25%, um, 20 or 25%. I cannot remember. But you can see, uh, it's relatively, uh, small compared with male. Um, I think that's fair. It's. Because of the Like one thing is the gender dif
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Being like Right. Interest, et cetera. Maybe for me, I see that like I'm more interested in certain things, right? Compare, like for example, my husband is very interested hands on like those electronics, right? I feel like. In general, um, the interest, uh, there's a difference. And then there is also family situations, right?
Yeah. I think, uh, the, the biggest challenge for female is, is especially when they go to their career, they're at the age of like having children, taking care of their family, et cetera. Uh, I think that's very challenging for most of the, uh, females, right? Um, like I, I still remember the time like. Well, for example, childbirth.
I think it's, it's, uh, I mean it's very challenging for female deaf and I feel like I, it almost took me three years to fully recover. Yes. From the childbirth, you know, like your, uh, energy, uh, yeah. Those type of things. And, uh, I think more naturally moms tend to take care of their babies. Right. More carefully, like et cetera, tend to spend
I think, yeah, these are all the, uh, realities, um, that affect the, I I would see the ratio of. A female, uh, female in like professional, I mean, engineering field is especially STEM field.
Mansi: Yeah, absolutely. No, um, that's, that totally makes sense because that is what the reality is. Um, so far, uh, we have seen around.
Um, well, uh, thank you so much for sharing all like your website. experience. Oh, no problem. Just changing the gears a little bit, uh, we will, I would definitely, uh, would love to know more about what you are currently, maybe if you're working on any research mm-hmm. Or if, if you wanna share any memorable accomplishment, um, which you would like us to share on
Dr. Qing Li: Mm-hmm. Um, uh, well, I would say, um, well I would definitely, uh, see like female. I mean this underrepresented, uh, underrepresented like faculties are a blessing to the students. I can imagine. Yeah. Um, like if the students see no female professors right. In engineering department, I, yeah, I, I can see that indeed affect people's, uh, choices opinions when they, uh, make their decisions.
Uh, I definitely think that's valuable. Uh, at the same time, I feel like now, It's getting better and better, right? I read about, uh, like previously, women are not, not allowed to attend for marathon. Not allowed, you know, a lot of things, but now I think it's getting better and better. Um, can compete a lot of times fairly with, uh, yeah, other
So I think it's getting better, uh, considering contributions. Uh, I, so now I'm doing, uh, statistical quality assurance. And the healthcare data analytics, machine learning related, uh, methodology and applications. Mm-hmm. Um, for, yeah, there are a lot of people doing this for, um, for contributions, I would see like, um, how can I say that?
Uh, I would say, yeah, we, we, we do our work, right? Try to treat, uh, our job. Seriously, um, do as best as we can, uh, advise students, et cetera. Yeah. Like I, I think like any other professors are doing.
Mansi: Absolutely. Um, yeah, I was more into, uh, asking about more about your particular, if you are doing any research work right now mm-hmm.
Which you would like to share, elaborate, um, just. People who are watching, uh, who would be watching it or reading about, um, the interview if they are into that kind of research. Um, oh yeah, yeah. Definitely Share more about your
Dr. Qing Li: research. Sure, sure. Um, so now my research is mainly in like, uh, quality related, uh, research.
Like, like on the data side, like for example, in advance the manufacturing. Mm-hmm. Uh, especially in like, for example, three D printing, uh, the quality. The effectiveness, right? Of the manufacturing process and the products. These are very important, especially in sectors like, um, uh, like when you are ma making air aircraft, et cetera, right?
For those NASA projects, the. Uh, products are very important. So, uh, one area of my research is in like trying to evaluating, monitoring the processes, inspecting the, uh, quality of the products and how we can, uh, improve the, uh, manufacturing and, uh, inspection, um, processes. This is one area. Another area is in, uh, health, healthcare, data
And, uh, so nowadays, like when you go to hospital, actually you, you can see they collect a lot of data, your demographics data and, uh, when they do, for example, lab test results and when you, uh, need to stay in the hospital, they also, yeah, collect all this like vital sign data, et cetera. Um, so how can we, uh, use, utilize all this data to,
Healthcare practitioners to make decisions, allocate resources, et cetera. So that's mainly the second, um, area of my focus. Mm-hmm.
Mansi: Okay. Yeah. So you talked, uh, earlier you talked that your main area of focus or your interest is in statistics, and then right now you're talking about use of data in different Yeah.
Yes. Right. So
Dr. Qing Li: yeah, I would say it becomes more and more, uh, I mean, Because I realize, oh, how useful data can be. Um, so, so from, for now, I think it's really, um, pro motivated by real problems. So it depends on, okay, what are the problems? And uh, so then we try to develop and identify methods to solve these problems.
Um, so it depends on the problem rate. Sometimes we may need to use statistical modeling. Sometimes maybe we need to, uh, combine like statistics and, uh, tradi, I mean machine learning or deep planning. So it really depends on the problem. Um, it's, especially now you can see like the boundaries. Um, I mean there are a lot of interdisciplinary rese
I, I think most of the complex problems now cannot be solved by people from one field. Right. It has to be a, um, integration. I mean, it has to be, uh, uh, let's see, efforts from different expertise. That's just the how things work now, I think. Yeah, absolutely.
Mansi: Yeah. So, uh, and this is just, uh, based on your, um, Kind of experience and what you do right now in terms of, and me being curious student from data and information systems, what kind of, um, applications do, uh, do you use?
Um, if you want to, uh, glance it over
Dr. Qing Li: that? Well, by applications do you mean what kind of fields this research can be used? So the
Mansi: application, so for example, for data, I think we use R
Dr. Qing Li: Oh, you mean software? Yeah, software. I'm so sorry. Oh, oh, I see, I see. I think in academia, uh, like especially instead, people like to use r.
Um, but I think, uh, now more and more people use Python. Mm. Because it's very powerful in, uh, doing deep learning, machine learning type of things. And in industry, I think a lot of people use Python and some people may also use Met Lab. Um, okay. Yes. I think this are the main software, uh, people used.
Mansi: Okay.
Thank you. Um, okay, so moving on to a kind of a different, uh, topic. So this is more about what do you think, um, mentorship and networking has played a role in your career so far? Mm-hmm. So how important was mentorship and networking for you so far?
Dr. Qing Li: Oh yeah, of course. Um, yeah, mentorship, definitely. I think it's, it's crucial.
Um, I, I just remember for example, my advisor. He is very, uh, encouraging and very supportive. And I, uh, and also another professor when I was a graduate student, like she was so encouraging. Yeah, I remember, um, like one of my paper was rejected, uh, five times. I. Um, yeah, it's, it's very frustrating. Um, like sometimes without that encourage
Yeah. But it, yeah, encouraging you, um, give you advice, et cetera. So I feel, oh, it's not that bad. Maybe, uh, I can move on. Yeah. So, And, um, like the, the, like mentors, they, um, they guided me considering like how to do research, how to write, how to collaborate, uh, how to do a lot of things like how to, uh, manage that, uh, work-life bala
Yeah. Yeah. I, I would say mentorship definitely is crucial. Okay.
Mansi: Uh, and then, um, How did you manage, uh, making sure that you have a good network with your colleagues or outside world while you, because I feel like when graduate students go into research work or academia, it gets very overloaded with like your research work.
So how did you make, uh, those, those transitions?
Dr. Qing Li: Hmm. Yes. I would say in general, like I'm a people person, so I like to be with people. Um, I like to communicate with people. I, I guess that's for personality. Like I can understand just working on my own. Okay. So I need to talk with people like maybe so, and also because of the, uh, nature of my field, like statistics.
Right. You have to, uh, You have to collaborate with people from other fields to come up with problems to solve and, uh, how to, uh, uh, interpret it. Right? A lot of things like I just cannot do it on my own. And also, where can I get the data? How to formulate, uh, Formula a problem, et cetera. So like I, I guess I have to Okay.
Collaborate with people. And then I u is, especially, I'm not sure the other department, but a college of engineering, um, is a very, uh, collaborative environment like our department. Right. So the in general, uh, encourage you to collaborate with other people, like communicate your research. Yeah. There are a lot of.
Opportunities and the events, seminars, right. For you to, uh, and also conferences. So as long as you keep attending those and, uh, actively Right. Uh, do things. Yeah. Can other people will drag you into the network? I mean, work. Yeah.
Mansi: Yeah. Okay. Uh, well, yes. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. No. In terms of, you just mentioned about how your department is more collaborative.
Yeah. And so moving towards that, more of your experience at I S U last five years. Mm-hmm. Yes. Um, how do you perceive the progress, which, uh, took place in last five years, if you think there was a progress in, in terms of diversity inclusion? Mm-hmm. In terms of students. In terms of faculty. Mm-hmm. Do you see a progressiveness there?
Progress there? If, um, and if there was, uh, if you have a power to change something, if, if you would like to share, what will be that? Um, well
Dr. Qing Li: definitely the people are talking more and about, more about diversity and inclusion. Um, I know like our department, uh, has all this, uh, recruit events, try to reach out to.
Um, middle school, high school students and uh, undergraduate student. So I definitely see people, uh, pay more attention to it. Mm-hmm. I'm not sure how effective is it? It is, but I definitely see the. People are, yeah. Talking about it, uh, and doing something about it. Um, so, 'cause there is a effect. I, I'm not sure I, five years, I think it's
That's my perception.
Mansi: Yeah. No, that. Is, uh, totally. Yeah, that's for sure. Five years is not a long time to have observed such a crucial, uh, part of um mm-hmm. The entirety of diversity and inclusion. Um, but yeah, as you mentioned, there are small steps taken. Um mm-hmm. And probably in next five years we'll see more, uh, more changes taking place.
Um, So well, in terms of kind of wrapping up the interview, um mm-hmm. I, based on your experience, what a advice would you give to an aspiring Asian woman coming into STEM field?
Dr. Qing Li: Um, yeah, yeah, definitely. I would say one thing is do not give up.
Mansi: Do not give up. Okay.
Dr. Qing Li: Yeah. Yeah. I think there are several, I mean, um, there are several times I, I want to give up.
Um, yeah. I feel like, oh, it's so difficult. But then, yeah, like in a university. friends, families, mentors, they encouraged me and then, okay, let me try, uh, one more time. And so just to keep going forward. And, uh, sometimes yeah, it goes down, sometimes goes up a little bit, but eventually, uh, yeah, I, I, I didn't. Expect that I would be, I would be, I would
I mean, when I was a student, I thought, oh, it was so hard. I cannot make it. Yeah. I, I never doubt thought about it, and then, yeah, somehow
Mansi: you just didn't give up the entire time.
Dr. Qing Li: Yeah. Yeah. I would see, so yeah. Perseverance. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Mansi: Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you so much for that. Um mm-hmm. Sweet. Um, kind of advice for the students, upcoming students that never give up. Mm-hmm. Uh, even though how hard the situations get. And thank you so much for your time for this interview, for taking the initiative to Oh, my pleasure. Your time to this project, Uhhuh, and I hope this was fun for you too, to kind of talk Oh, yeah.
Yes. Experience and, um, hopefully students and whoever watches it kind of get inspiration from all. Sure. Sure. Which again, Dr. Li, um, I really appreciate
Dr. Qing Li: your time. Mm-hmm. My pleasure. Yeah. I hope your research goes well. Yeah. I hope you Yeah. You can gain insights from your research that will be helpful, uh, to the community.
Yeah.
Mansi: Yeah, absolutely. And I'll reach out to you by, um, kind of next week again with the email, uh, kind of follow up on the interview and then we'll talk. Mm-hmm. Um, if you want to share any particular research work you did, I do have some background information about your work, which is already on ISU website.
Mm-hmm. So when the profile of your interview will be created on the new website, we kind of. Like to include the links to your research paper for everyone. Sure. For the ease of access kind of thing, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. But if there's any ongoing project you would like to share with us mm-hmm. Definitely feel free to email me
Dr. Qing Li: anytime.
Oh, sure. Sure. Thank you. Yeah, I think all my papers that are published are on my personal website, so. Okay. Yeah, I think that link is sufficient. Okay.
Mansi: That then it's perfect. Okay. Thank you so
Dr. Qing Li: much again for your time. Thank you. Yeah. Have day. Bye-Bye, Nancy.