Liu Jielun

Nationality: China
Faculty & Year of Study: Faculty of Engineering, Year 4
Undergraduate: Zhejiang University, China

"There are three questions that you need to think about before you choose to do your PhD."

Why Did You Choose To Pursue A PhD?

To be honest, the reason why I choose to do a PhD is that I thought a Master’s Degree was not challenging and rewarding enough when I was in the final year of my undergraduate study. In addition, I was in a minor program at that time and up to 50% of my classmates chose to do a PhD (which also had a big influence on my decision). I compared many graduate programs and chose to do a PhD at NUS.

Can you tell us briefly about your research topic?

My research focuses on using traffic data and urban data (e.g., map data and weather data) to analyze the urban traffic network and travel behaviors, investigate strategies for traffic management and operation.

Why did you choose to do this research for your PhD?

My research topics include (1) data processing (deal with missing data); (2) the forecasting of traffic states in urban road network; (3) traffic congestion evolution and management; (4) influences of traffic on urban area and residentials.
As you can see, the flow of my research topics is that I am trying to use the data to analyze several important issues in urban area, from traffic states to management of congestion, and finally analyze the impact of traffic.

How does PhD graduate education compare with your undergraduate experience?

When I was doing my undergraduate studies, I knew exactly what I needed to do and how to do it. I only had to attend classes and get a high grade in the courses.
But when I’m doing my PhD, usually I do not know what I should do and how to answer the research questions. I’ve lost my direction many times, and had to backtrack and start again. Supervisors would not tell you exactly what you should do, and I’ve had to try many methods on my own. I think there is a lot of trial-and-error involved.

Any advice for someone who's considering a PhD in NUS?

There are three questions that you need to think about before you choose to do your PhD:
(1) Why you are you doing a PhD?
(2) What are your expectations, and what if you could not fulfill your goals?
(3) What is the work style of your supervisors?