I’m Yue Peng, a computer science student at NYU Shanghai.

A few things have stayed with me for much of my life: robotics competitions, from FLL and VEX to FRC and RoboMaster; EaseCation, a Minecraft world that has been running for more than a decade; and a longing for mountains, snowlines, and distant places.

I love the nights when a team gathers around a robot, debating, debugging, and trying again until it finally moves the way we imagined. I also enjoy looking after a virtual world where strangers meet, build things together, and slowly become part of one another’s stories. More than the machines or the code, I value the people who choose to build and keep something together.

These days, I spend much of my time doing research, writing code, and chasing questions that do not yet have answers. I like taking a passing idea seriously and working on it until it runs. I still prefer following curiosity a little farther to staying entirely on mapped-out paths.

Years from now, I hope I will still be glad that I travelled those long roads, helped keep a world alive, and spent those late nights working alongside others.