About

Hi, my name is Grace.

I am a software engineer at Riot Games, currently on the Premier team. I joined full-time in January 2020 after interning in the summer of 2019, and I studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University with a minor in mathematical sciences before that.

Before that, I have been on:

  • 2022-now: Competitive / Premier (VALORANT)
  • 2021-2022: Social and Player Dynamics (VALORANT)
  • Summer 2019, 2020-2021: Esports Digital

Why does this place exist?

This is taken from Manuel Blum’s Advice to a Beginning Graduate Student:

You are all computer scientists.

You know what FINITE AUTOMATA can do.

You know what TURING MACHINES can do.

For example, Finite Automata can add but not multiply.

Turing Machines can compute any computable function.

Turing Machines are incredibly more powerful than Finite Automata.

Yet the only difference between a FA and a TM is that the TM, unlike the FA, has paper and pencil.

Think about it.

It tells you something about the power of writing.

Without writing, you are reduced to a finite automaton.

With writing you have the extraordinary power of a Turing machine.

And here is a quote from John Shaw Billings that he shares:

First have something to say,

Second say it,

Third stop when you have said it, and

Finally give it an accurate title.”

I’ve always loved writing. So there’s a very personal reason why this place exists, which is for my own enjoyment. But there’s also some things that I like to believe I have to say, and perhaps some people out there who might find it mildly valuable. And while I still have that feeling, I’ll keep this place alive.

Current Goals

  • to be updated

Interests

  • Gaming (StarCraft, League of Legends, VALORANT)
  • Ceramics
  • Language learning
  • Functional programming
  • Machine learning
  • Computer systems
  • Piano
  • Drawing (sketching, watercolor, acrylic, charcoal)
  • Singing
  • Cooking
  • Water rights and the environment
  • Reading
  • Biology
  • Writing
  • Saving the web
  • Trying to become an informed citizen of the world
  • Doing good things

Images

The image used as an icon is my Chinese name painted by my grandmother before she passed away. She did Chinese calligraphy, and I asked her to write my name. This was before her illness worsened, but you can already see the tremors seeping into her strokes.

The image used in the homepage jumbotron is made by David Jin, a very talented friend of mine.