When Sienna Ni, a computer science major from NYU Shanghai, chose to study at NYU Abu Dhabi for a semester, she was hoping to explore musical opportunities on campus. By the end of the semester, she had not only performed her first recital on campus, but also secured a research assistantship for her to return.
Ni returned to Abu Dhabi to assist on a cybersecurity project that detects scams in the UAE. “In Shanghai, we don’t really have professors who work in security, but here there is a whole cybersecurity center,” she explains.
Student life at NYUAD
"The professors have a lot of experience in their fields and are very professional and patient,” Ni explains. At NYUAD, she enrolled in a range of courses, including music technology fundamentals, computer networking, piano, and a capella.
"Professor Matteo Marciano is a mix engineer and producer, and he at times invites artists to do recordings in our studio, and students get a chance to participate,” she says.
For her computer networking course, the small class size of 12 students meant Ni got a lot more attention and care from Professor Yasir Zaki and the teaching assistant, Prasant.
“This learning environment enabled me to make a lot of progress with hands-on programming and coding this semester,” Ni says.
A penchant for playing the piano
Ni started playing the piano when she was five years old, but her journey has not been without challenges. Those early piano lessons seemed more of an obligation to pass standardized tests than for enjoyment.
It was in her teens that she rediscovered the piano and rekindled her love for the instrument.
Now, she feels joy and peace when she plays the piano. Performing her first recital at NYUAD was a memorable experience for Ni. "As a performer, I felt really happy when the audience started to clap with the beat," she explains.
Born and raised in Shanghai, the Chinese student had never lived outside China or away from her family before visiting NYUAD. The experience has since inspired Ni to pursue a PhD in computer science, with a focus on cybersecurity, at NYUAD.
