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This is the story of Ellen Xu, a high school student from San Diego who is a 2x ISEF finalist, Cyberpatriot XIII National Champion, and a current researcher at UCSD Kawasaki Disease Research Center. She is involved with various other initiatives of her own, including her own blog and podcast. I had the chance to interview her this week about her achievements, and what it took to become such an accomplished young innovator incorporating various fields of computing, cybersecurity, medical technology, and entrepreneurship.
Bian Lee: How did you first get into exploring technology, and how did you develop your skills over time?
Ellen Xu: One of my earliest exposures to exploring technology was creating games in Scratch and tinkering with electrical engineering circuitry when I was in elementary school. I remember creating a crossy road-type game to raise awareness for the impact of roads on turtles and presented it at a local fair - seeing other children and parents play with it and enjoy something of my own creation was very meaningful to me, and I'm still exploring different facets of technology and various other fields today to try and find things that rekindle that same feeling within me.
Bian: I heard that you won the National Champion in the Cyberpatriot Competition. What do you specialize in (Windows, Linux or Networking), and what did it take to reach the top to win the title?
If you aren’t aware of what CyberPatriot is, it is the world’s largest cybersecurity competition (for middle school to high school students) in which teams are tasked to secure operating systems (Windows & Linux) and networks. If you wish to know more about what the competition is about, you can read my latest blog, on which I talk about my experience in the cybersecurity club. Having personally participated in this competition myself, I find it really impressive that Ellen won the first place and even more fascinating that I got to interview her!
Ellen: I participated in CyberPatriot for 4 years and specialized in Windows and Networking! I'm really grateful to have had such an incredible team and had the opportunity not only to participate in the national finals (despite the last 2 years not being in person), and eventually becoming the CyberPatriot XIII National Champion team. To answer your question, I'd credit the hard work and dedication of all of the members of the team to how we were able to get to the top. We were always seeking to learn more, build from first principles, and dive deeper into rabbit holes to find new leads. One important thing about developing understanding is that you can't just know how it works theoretically or memorize security concepts, but you actually need to know how to reconstruct it from the ground up and get hands-on with your knowledge.
Bian: I think it's also really cool that you were a finalist at ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) for two years. Could you describe what your projects were, and your motivation behind it?
Ellen: My project was inspired by a personal experience affecting my younger sister, who had Kawasaki disease when she was younger and was initially misdiagnosed. It's a problem very close to my heart, as there are many children like my sister who get misdiagnosed each year and face the risk of developing more serious coronary complications with late treatment. I wanted to develop a differential diagnosis system to help assist doctors in the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease, which I continued through two years of ISEF.
Bian: Wow, I find it truly inspiring to see how you were able to turn personal experience to something you specialize in, and I'm moved by how you were able to help others through your project. I saw that you are also currently conducting research at the UCSD Kawasaki Disease Research Center -- How were you able to get the research position, and what work do you do?
Ellen: I'm super grateful to have the support of so many on my project journey! I was able to get my current research position in a less common way than how others may traditionally approach getting opportunities - I started off researching and just being curious/exploring the problem on my own, and later wanted to get medical feedback from doctors and Kawasaki disease experts. That led me to reaching out to the same doctors who helped treat and save my sister's life! They were so unbelievably gracious and helpful in not only providing feedback, but allowing me to work at their center to improve my algorithm and discuss its applications.
Bian: Besides research, you are involved with lots of different projects and initiatives -- What are some that you are currently working on?
Ellen: I am working on Zipline Theory, a non-profit organization re-engineering education with early exposure to nontraditional fields (ziplinetheory.com). As someone who developed early interests in technology, I'm super passionate about creating fun educational opportunities for others to kindle interests in fields not often taught! We've been funded by the Department of Defense and National Center for Women in Technology in the past for our cybersecurity event, which included cash prizes, Capture the Flags, and digital forensics activities - the next event currently open to sign-ups is a game development event, free of cost! Besides that, I also have a lot of fun hosting Delta X podcast which gets 200+ downloads/episode, where I talk with entrepreneurs, professors, and the coolest teenagers on the Internet about all things tech, startups, and innovation (subscribe at newsletter.deltaxpod.com)!
Bian: Are there any other certain hobbies that you enjoy?
Ellen: Some of my hobbies include competitive saber fencing, creative writing, photography -- I'm in no way good at this haha but I enjoy it! And reading reading reading! I used to play cello and piano too!
Bian: You are obviously a very accomplished high school student, in many ways. What advice would you give to other high school students?
Ellen: Thank you so much! My biggest advice would be that society is always trying to push you on a path to convergence, and to try and find your own voice/interests among the noise. You're constantly told to try and play a game better than everyone else, optimize for things that others around you are optimizing for, and it took me a long time to start questioning what really matters to me -- and I'm still working on doing this better. It's ok to stop things if you don't like it or if it doesn't bring you fulfillment. And similarly, it's ok to do things that you enjoy that might not matter as much in the eyes of others as long as it is important to you (not me justifying reading way too long everyday - just kidding... not really though... haha!). You have so many choices, so many possibilities for different things that you can explore and try to investigate. Don't fall into the trap of trying to become like everyone else and try to find your own interests irrespective of that, life is your own playing field!
Bian: I want to wrap up this interview by asking you a fun question -- What is your favorite song?
As a music nerd who's always interested in knowing what music other people listen to, I couldn't resist asking this question. My goal is to ask this question to every person I interview -- I think it's a fun way to get to know someone.
Ellen: Haha that's a great question. I don't really have a favorite song at the moment, but I like Checkmate and Hindenburg Lover.
It was a great talk, and I had a lot of fun interviewing Ellen about her accomplishments and discussing technology in general. Aside from what was included on this blog, I also had a chance to give her few book recommendations (given that she really enjoyed reading) and exchange favorite songs. :) What I found inspirational about her was her constant drive and limitless goals to pursue what she's truly passionate about, which is how I believe she was able to accomplish so many things successfully and stand apart as a unique, talented innovator at a young age. Like Ellen phrased it, life is your own playing field and I think it's important to remind ourselves what truly matters and reflect on whether we are making our own individual choices to live to the fullest. I have the best wishes for Ellen and her future endeavors, and I'm confident that she will continue to achieve great things. I want to thank Ellen once again for allowing me to conduct this interview and share her story.