About

About Me

My name is Xupeng Zhang (张续鹏). Most people here call me Zack. I'm a master's student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins, working on machine learning for medical imaging in the LDR Group. This page is the part that isn't research.

Xupeng Zhang standing by a lake at dusk with snow-capped mountains behind him

Singing

A solo from choir. It plays on its own — tap it if you want the sound.

Choir solo
How I got here

I moved to the US in middle school with very little English. I couldn't follow class, my grades showed it, and for a while I kept to myself. I started high school with a 1.9 GPA and a warning that I might be asked to leave.

Mr. Hilton, my high school choir teacher, noticed I could sing and brought me into the choir. He also taught AP Computer Science. I spent the next three years in both of his rooms. I sang first tenor and led the section, and I took four AP courses my senior year and got an A in every one.

I kept singing in college — not leading anymore, but I never stopped. Singing and computer science both started in the same place, with the same teacher.

Thank you, Mr. Hilton.

Stormy

Stormy, a Siamese cat in a fleece hoodie, lying on a bed

Stormy is a Siamese we adopted in Davis. At home he goes by 笨笨 — roughly "silly one," which he has earned.

IU

IU performing on stage at a concert in Los Angeles
Los Angeles

IU is my favorite artist. I took this at her concert in Los Angeles.

Most of my usernames come from hers. Her handle is dlwlrma; mine is Dlwlx05 — which is also the prompt in the terminal on my homepage.

Cooking

Two plates of sliced steak with caramelized onions and rosemary, beside a bottle of Scotch
Close-up of medium-rare sliced steak on a slate plate with rosemary and roasted garlic

I cook a lot. Steak is where I put the most effort.