My name is Yijia. In popular demand, here is the pronunciation of my name: e-ja. I am a first year PhD student at University of Virginia. I earned a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science and a M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I married my long time boyfriend Matt on April 3, 2004 and I didn't take his family name. So don't address my husband as Mr. Zhao.

I was born and raised in Shanghai, China. When I get a chance, I will make a page dedicated to Shanghai. Meanwhile, you can visit some web sites.

If you don't think math is fun already, I probably won't be able to change your mind easily. To me, mathematics is one of the most interesting and exciting subjects that I have ever encountered. Solving problems is usually a enjoyable and satisfying experience, especially after the problem is solved.

My study and work take up the majority of my time. When I have some spare time, I enjoy traveling, reading, painting, cooking, gardening, going to movies and shows, and spending time with friends. I also took up photography recently, since I finally have two great cameras to play with thanks to my dad. I am no longer spending a lot of time playing with computers, but I do enjoy teaching myself new technologies and getting new "toys."