Conversation with Prof. Zhiru Zhang

Main themes

1. Health comes first

• Prof. Zhang emphasized repeatedly that health is more important than the PhD, prestige, money, or timeline.
• He said physical or mental health issues are not small matters and should be treated as the top priority.
• He encouraged reducing tension, maintaining exercise, and avoiding triggers that worsen stress.

2. Do not over-weight the PhD

• He was not discouraging a PhD outright, but he strongly advised not treating it as something so important that it harms health.
• He said a PhD should not be approached as a simple box-checking task.
• If research continues, it should be because the work is genuinely enjoyable, not only for the degree.

3. Match matters more than raw ability

• He explicitly said the issue is not lack of ability, but rather fit / match.
• In his view, I need:
  • a topic I can become familiar with more quickly,
  • stronger intuition support,
  • and a faster positive feedback loop.
• He noted that his group currently has limited one-on-one bandwidth and many projects are exploratory, which can make feedback slower.

4. Amazon internship may be useful beyond the internship itself

• He thinks the Amazon internship could be a good chance to:
  • reset in a different environment,
  • learn more about industry systems and hardware/training infrastructure,
  • and shift mindset away from purely paper-driven thinking.
• If the internship goes well and feels healthy/sustainable, he suggested I could even explore whether an extension is possible.

5. AI / coding-agent workflow shift is real

• I told him Amazon had suggested I improve my coding-agent usage.
• He agreed that many places increasingly rely on such tools internally.
• His view aligns with the idea that the key is:
  • clear ideas,
  • clear specs,
  • then delegating implementation work effectively.

6. Networking is important and not a waste of time

• He strongly encouraged me to:
  • talk to more people,
  • build friendships,
  • ask direct questions instead of overthinking alone,
  • and treat networking as high-value, not as a distraction.
• He said relationships are among the most scarce resources in the long run.

7. Possible people to talk to

• Alexandra
• Jordan
• Alumni in Apple / Cupertino
• Other former group members or senior students who can offer practical perspective

8. Returning to Cornell / CSL remains possible, but only if the fit is right

• I told him that if I return to Cornell and do not find a better match, I still hope to stay in CSL.
• He did not reject that idea.
• But he emphasized that the key question is whether the environment provides:
  • enough support,
  • fast enough feedback,
  • and a healthy match.