Professors Passion for Numbers Leads Her to the Fowler College of Business
Dr. Xialu Liu
As a youngster growing up in Taiyuan, China, Xialu Liu (pronounced Shia-lu Lu) loved numbers. “When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with numbers,” she said. “I loved to solve various math puzzles and brain teasers.”
Liu loved numbers so much that she earned a bachelor’s degree in math (with honors) from China’s Zhejiang University, but Liu was becoming disenchanted with math as a scholarly pursuit. “I realized that advanced math in college is not fun,” said Liu. “Pure math contains too many abstract concepts and theories that don’t apply to our daily lives and I was interested in using math as a tool to solve real-world problems.”
Fun Fact: Liu once worked as a finanical analyst in New York City where she evaluated market data and offered advice to traders.
With that in mind, Liu turned her attention to the study of statistics. She found that the study of statistics allowed her to use math to analyze data to create usable business information and she decided to pursue statistics as a career.
As fate would have it, Liu met Rong Chen, a statistics professor from Rutgers University, while she was studying for her master’s degree and she became interested in his research. “His work focuses on theoretical and empirical financial and economic data analysis,” she said. “This type of work provides valuable guidance for real-world problem-solving and decision-making and requires a solid math background.”
Liu came to the U.S. to earn her Ph.D. in statistics at Rutgers where she became a student of Chen’s. As Liu watched his work in the classroom and in the office, she became influenced by his devotion to his research, his students and “his willingness to help.” She was inspired to follow his footsteps into the field of academia.
Liu hopes to "ski around the world" one day
Upon earning her Ph.D., Liu accepted an offer to work as an assistant professor in the management information systems department at the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University in 2015. “San Diego State values both teaching and research, while most universities focus only on teaching or only on research,” she said. “I also came to SDSU because I had the opportunity to teach statistics in the business school. I think the beauty of statistics is its broad applications to various fields including business, finance, economics and marketing, so a position in the business school was a good fit for my research.”
Fun Fact: Liu is learning to snow ski and to swim. She one day hopes to take up scuba diving and "to ski around the world."
After five years at SDSU, Liu has seen some significant changes in both her professional and personal life. This spring, she was promoted to associate professor and she gave birth to her first child. “After I had a baby, life has permanently changed the way I see the world,” said Liu. “I now realize how much time and effort parents spend to raise their kids — I now understand why parents shed tears at their kids’ weddings and commencements. Every mom is now a hero for me.”
