Yangli

My Background

I have a bachelor’s degree in radio and television and a master’s degree in fine arts. I worked with new media technology, including virtual reality, for over four years. During this time, I worked on an art project in collaboration with American Arts Incubator as the leading artist’s assistant and the program’s technical support. I received training to be a filmmaker during my undergraduate studies, and documentary filmmaking has been part of my life for seven years now. Five years ago, I made a documentary film for a beloved couple who suffered from intellectual disability and financial difficulty. Luckily, in less than three weeks, the film I made raised enough money for their wedding and helped them get married.

As an active Boston artist, I enjoy being able to apply what I have learned from school to my research and multimedia works. I also enjoy the part-time teaching roles that I have taken alongside my previous studies – as an undergraduate lecturer for the 2D Tool Design course, and as a teaching assistant for the Interactive Media and Society course.

Why Khoury?

When working with VR-based artwork, I constantly ran into problems because of my lack of coding skills. Without the budget and support from developers, I found it hard to fully achieve the functions of my projects. Sometimes, it was also hard to communicate with developers about my projects while not having programming experience. The Align program was the best bridge program that I could find. It helped me jump into a new field with no tech background and get closer to what I want in the long-term.

I chose Khoury College of Computer Sciences because this school is pretty unique. As an alum, I am very familiar with Northeastern’s excellent career support and wanted to capitalize on those resources. I think what interested me the most in the Align program was that I could bring my past knowledge and some transferable skills into my studies and make a jump into the tech industry. As someone who wants to become a technical artist this program is a perfect fit for me. The Align Program in Computer Science is the ideal place for me to fully realize my potential as a female digital artist, expand my projects, and perhaps contribute to an ongoing social movement that endeavors to change the narrative of this male-dominated tech field.

Bridge

I think the first semester of the Align program is a little bit intimidating, but because I had so much support in this program, it made it easier. My overall experience with the Align academic bridge courses is very positive. Seeing previous students who have successfully finished the course also gives me a lot of confidence. I think both object-oriented design and math classes are essential to my learning in this new field. I think the bridge courses did a great job of helping me make the transition.

My Future

In the future, I want to work with new media technology like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (XR), and I want to become a technical artist who can work on all sorts of creative projects. Since 2017, my primary research objective has centered around emerging media and its social impact. I consider myself an innovative content creator with a focus on telling unconventional stories via emerging media. Much of my work has been in search of social change, through metaphor and raising awareness around issues of social equity, cultural inclusion, and self-identity. This career goal will combine my passion for art with the skills that I learn from this degree.