"In 2009, there was a conference in China, and I met my advisor, Tonghui Wang, who is a professor at NMSU. We talked to each other and he offered me the opportunity to study at NMSU with the teaching assistantship," said Dr. Tian.
He has a bachelor's in information and computing sciences from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, China, and a master's in computational mathematics from Northwest University, China.
He is a member of American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, American Statistical Association and Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
Dr. Tian's love of mathematics came from liking to play with numbers. He was good at math in high school and got a 150/150 for mathematics in the National College Entrance Examination.
"I like to search the best process to figure out math questions, which has the unique solution but can be done in a variety of ways.
"I have a famous professor in China; he taught me statistics for one academic year, and gave me the impetus to draw me into statistics," he said.
His main area of research is the skew normal models and their application, especially in the economic field.
Dr. Tian has found that New Mexico's climate is different from that of his homeland.
"It is so hot in Las Cruces, even no snow in the winter," he said.
The language is another difference.
However, he misses his family and the food from China the most.
"There is no good Chinese restaurant in Las Cruces and so I need to cook by myself. I miss my family, especially my parents. So, I will fly to China in the future during the winter and summer break," explained Dr. Tian.
He also has a niece who just graduated from kindergarten.
She sent him pictures with a graduation uniform "which looks like she's graduating from the University. She likes to talk with me and share stories to me via online-video. I have several group pictures with her. I miss her," said Dr. Tian.
He also enjoys playing badminton and was the president of the NMSU badminton club.
"I won first place for the men's double in a tournament."
"I enjoyed the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings in Seattle, which gave me many opportunities to meet many famous professors in the statistical field, and I made some new friends there also. By the way, the International Conference of the Thailand Econometric Society, which was held in Thailand, gave me an opportunity to experience another different culture, and it is a good place to tour in winter," explained Dr. Tian.
He enjoys his media-site classes because he can record with his regular everyday class and post them online to share with other students.
He also enjoys that he can meet with the university's president, Dr. Steven Gamble, on a weekly basis.
"I never had an opportunity to meet my president in NMSU and talk face to face for the past six years," explained Dr. Tian.
