Hi! I am Xinru Yang, I also go by Isabella. Currently I am a software engineer at Google, working on large language modeling on Search Generative Experience (SGE) in Search.

Before joining Google, I obtained the Master of Language Technologies from Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. I was fortunately fully sponsored during my 24-month master program and advised by Alexander G. Hauptmann.

Broadly interested in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, I have diverse academia / industrial internships in Univeristy of California, Irvine, Microsoft Research Asia, and Alibaba on natural language processing, computer vision, information retrieval, reinforcement learning, recommendation system, etc.

Deeply passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship, I am also very active in helping early-stage founders shape their ideas and find product market fit, by providing technical support and financial advisory. Book a slot for a quick chat on my calendar if you have something exciting to share!

Most recent hobby: bouldering πŸ§—πŸ»β€β™€οΈ

πŸ”₯ News

  • 2024.01: Β πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰ I sent a V4 for the first time (also flashed it) at Movement Santa Clara.
  • 2024.01: Β πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰ I became a reviewer of CVPR 2024.

🎯 Portfolios

I invest in early-stage startups (pre-seed to A) individually. Here are some of my portfolios since 2021.

πŸŒ‰ Community Contributions

  • Since 2021: Core member of Chinese Googler Network (the biggest Chinese Googler group at Google internally)
  • Since 2020: Venture Scout / Fellow of multiple VCs including Uphonest Capital, Linear Capital, Miracle Plus, etc
  • 2021: Chair of Chinese-youth Cloud Summit
  • 2024: CVPR 2024 Program Committee
  • 2020: AAAI 2021 Program Committee

πŸ’¬ Reading Records

I am trying to read more books in 2024. To keep myself more motivated, I will list the books I have finished reading with some comments.

  • Hit Refresh: Empathy and culture [Jan, 2024]

There are many summarized principles by Satya in this book on working and building company’s culture. Satya has his very unique perception about empathy given his personal experiences. I am more curious about how he had climbed the ladder over time and what were the turning points in his career before he was given the chance and stage to lead.

  • Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg [Jan, 2024]

My eyes were wet multiple times when I saw how the world treated women decades ago. Rights are not given or granted, but fought for. It is also a fortune to have a supportive and spiritually fulfilling companion. We, as women, should always and never forget how the rights of us are here today. We need to protect it and support each other.

  • Steve Jobs [Feb, 2024]

In this book, Jobs cried more than 20 times (or at least holding tears in his eyes). It is surprising to see how many times that Jobs showed his emotions even vulnerability bluntly, while he was admired and worshiped by the world as a hero. I honestly also cried once I started reading because I realized that I would never have a chance to talk to him in person regardless of how many familiarities I have found in myself and how profoundly I echo on his experiences. It is the greatest shame but I am also deeply grateful to read this book. I knew I was not the only one.

πŸŽ– Honors and Awards

  • 2019 NSF Student Scholarship for theWebConf (WWW)
  • 2017-2019 Graduate Research Fellowship, Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
  • 2015-2016 China Scholarship Council Grant for Exchange Program at Lund University, Sweden.
  • 2015.10 China National Scholarship
  • 2014.10 China National Scholarship
  • 2014 ACM/International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Beijing Regional Invitation, Bronze medal

πŸ’‘ Entertainments

I keep developing new hobbies to entertain my life. Ranked by frequency.

  • Photography, I love being models for portrait photography.
  • Bouldering, I love the feel of muscle and power and especially when accomplishing a new challenge.
  • Singing, I love challenging songs and served as soprano in univeristy choir in undergrad.
  • Sports, I love playing basketball and was on school women basketball team in undergrad.
  • Traveling, I love exploring the world and has been to 27 countries and districts, mostly free (on business trip or fully sponsored)!