Highlights and challenges while doing a PhD: Jiayi Shen about her PhD work for the AI for Medical Imaging (AIM) Lab

“Several years ago, if you'd asked me about the highlight of my PhD, I would've said it was just papers getting accepted. Now, I see it differently."

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"We often hear people celebrating their successes and paper acceptances. It's common, but it's not the whole story. Failure is a big part of life, too, though it’s usually kept under wraps and dealt with quietly. Before talking about the highlights, let me share some of my failures.

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During my PhD, my papers were rejected six times. At first, these rejections made me doubt my decision to chase a PhD. My first year was tough—full of darkness and tears, and it felt like all my efforts and help from others were for nothing. It took a while before I could really smile again. However, what I didn't realize was how much I was growing from these experiences. I took every bit of feedback to heart, which helped me learn how to tell good research from bad. These ‘negative samples’ helped me establish solid research criteria, which led to ‘positive samples’ afterward. With more samples, the research criteria indeed ‘converge’ faster.

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Failures come with a lot of uncertainty and things we can't control. Yeah, it is not easy to convince myself to ignore them. By chance, I found a powerful and magical saying: Everything that happens to me is for the best, if not now, then in the future. When I repeat this saying in my mind, negativity and confusion have been shaken off. These failures are kinds of ‘locks’ in my life, but I have found their ‘keys’ one by one in my ongoing journey. 

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Doing research like a sine curve: highs and lows. At the high points, we enjoy the view; at the low points, we meet our true selves. Now, if you ask me again, I’d say the real highlight of my PhD is learning not to fear failure. It's part of the journey that’s brought me here today.”

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Jiayi will probably continue her exploration in academia. Despite many unknown challenges ahead, she moves forward bravely. Jiayi hopes to bring a little positive energy to those who have experienced similar failures or darkness.

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