Althought Art and Science might seem far too distant from one another, they are nothing but two different languages for understanding the world around us !
Bingyu Zhou, our next pathbreaker, Data Scientist at Holistic Hospital Optimisation, builds prediction models and forecasting algorithms based on data science and machine learning.
Bingyu talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about keeping a tight balance between her daytime job as a data scientist and Illustration/Art work for magazines and publishers, along with some commercial projects.
For students, think of the analytical and the creative as our left and right eyes. Each sees the world a little differently, and you only get real depth when both are open.
Bingyu, Your background?
By day, I work as a data scientist. By night, I’m an illustrator. People are often surprised that those two things sit in the same life, but to me they’ve never been separate.
In math, there’s a concept called duality: one problem can be written in two completely different forms and still describe the same thing at its core. That’s how I think about my career. Data science and illustration look unrelated, but they’re two different languages for understanding the world. One measures it, the other imagines it, and somehow, they keep talking to each other.
So that’s my background in a nutshell: someone trained to measure the world who never stopped wanting to draw it.
What did you do for graduation and post-graduation?
I did my undergraduate degrees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in Industrial Engineering and in Statistics (2018 to 2022). After that, I went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a Master of Business Analytics, which I finished in 2023.
What were some of the influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional and uncommon career that combines Data Science and Illustration?
Art has been a quiet constant in my life, and it’s the reason I eventually chose to become an illustrator. As a kid, drawing was how I made sense of the world, through lines, shapes, and light, and growing up in Suzhou, surrounded by classical gardens, lattice windows, and silk patterns, I was always drawn to decorative details.
But when it came time to choose a career, I took what felt like the practical path: engineering and analytics. Specifically, I chose Industrial Engineering, because I liked that it’s about making complicated systems work better using math, data, and logic, and it paired naturally with Statistics. Getting into a US university took some extra preparation on my own. I came from a traditional Chinese school, so I took the SAT and taught myself several AP classes. I don’t think my art skills directly helped me get in, but art definitely shaped my creative, imaginative, and expressive side, just more indirectly.
For a while, those years of studying pulled me away from art, but I never gave it up. When I started working, I soon wanted to pick up drawing again. At first, it was a way to unwind after a day of staring at data. It felt like something switched back on. Then “just for fun” slowly changed. I wanted to get better and finish pieces properly, and that’s when I decided to build a career as an illustrator. So choosing this career wasn’t a sudden leap. It was something I’d carried since childhood, and it just needed room to grow.
How did you plan the steps into your career?
Honestly, I did not plan every step. I rely a lot on instinct and intuition, and I follow those directions to see how they evolve. My analytical background then helps me refine those instincts. Together, the two sides help me find balance.
On the data science side, my academic background naturally led me to a career as a data scientist, and my previous experience in medical, insurance, and other engineering settings made me want to pursue AI in healthcare.
Around the same time, I began taking illustration seriously on the side. I’ve drawn since I was a young kid, but as an illustrator, I’m mostly self-taught. I learned by making things, studying artists I admire, and entering competitions, which tell me pretty directly where I stand. My first big project was a twelve-piece series about my hometown, and it grew from there into my current career as an illustrator. Looking back, the path was simpler than it sounds: two tracks, one analytical and one creative, growing side by side.
How did you get your first break?
My first real break was that first series, 24 Hours in Gusu. I made it in 2024 and 2025, while living and working in the U.S., long after I’d left Suzhou for college, so it was my way of carrying home with me. A local store in Suzhou saw it on my social media and licensed the pieces as postcards. Seeing my hometown come back to me through my own work gave me so much encouragement to keep going.
Beyond that, things in the U.S. happened more gradually, through small steps rather than one big moment. Recognition from competitions also helped people notice my work, and publication opportunities followed.
On the data science side, my first break came right after my master’s, when I started working as a data scientist, which felt like a really natural path, and healthcare gave me a way to do something good with it.
Across both worlds, I’m still not sure there’s one moment you can point to and call “breaking in.” For me, it’s a continuous process of making better work, developing stronger ideas, and growing creatively. It’s an ongoing journey.
What were some of the challenges you faced, and how did you address them?
Honestly, there are a lot of them, and it’s hard to name every one. But I don’t really treat them as challenges, because many of them are exactly what make this journey unique.
If I had to pick the biggest one, it’s time. Between a full-time job and illustration, there are days when I simply don’t have enough of it, and I feel the tension. I joke that I have two full-time jobs, one on the day shift and one on the night shift. I don’t have a perfect fix at the moment. I just try my best to balance both.
The rest, like having no formal art training, quiet stretches with no clients, or projects that shift in scope or get canceled, I honestly don’t see as challenges either. They’re just part of this career.
Where do you work now?
My day job is data science for AI in healthcare, and my night job is my small illustration business.
In my day job, I use data science and machine learning to help hospitals run more smoothly. My role is building prediction models, for example forecasting how many patients will be in the emergency department or in hospital beds, and how long inpatients are likely to stay, so teams can plan ahead. The people who use this work are the hospital teams who manage beds, staffing, and patient flow, and the goal is to keep care running smoothly for patients.
On the illustration side, my clients are mostly magazines and publishers, along with some commercial work. I’ve worked on magazines, book covers, and commercial projects like an MIT anniversary and a New Year collection for a local boutique store in Suzhou.
Overall, what I love most is how the two fit together in my life. Data science gives me analytical thinking, while illustration gives me a kind of refreshment, and each one makes me better at the other.
The skills are definitely a mix too, and it depends on which hat I’m wearing: analytical thinking for one, creative expression for the other. The problems are different as well. At work, I make sense of patterns in data. At night, I turn ideas into images people can feel. So a typical day is basically two shifts: data in the daytime and drawing in the evening.
How does your work benefit society?
I think illustration can help people understand ideas that feel distant, like AI, biotechnology, or the economy. A chart or a headline can leave them cold and abstract, while an image can make them feel human.
Ecosystem 2.0 is a good example. In February 2026, OpenClaw introduced AI systems with “hands,” and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Coming from a data science background, I wanted to help people understand this kind of intelligence a little better, not through a chart or a headline, but through an image.
So I created Ecosystem 2.0. In the piece, a boy is asleep while the intelligence around him keeps working. I used a lobster because it’s OpenClaw’s symbol, but I deliberately made it feel less intelligent and less AI-looking, since so much tech illustration falls into the same cold look. The small shrimp carrying balls show how intelligence breaks a big job into smaller ones, so the claw doesn’t do it all alone. And I used vibrant colors on purpose, because I don’t want to exaggerate the fear around AI. My hope is for something closer to an ecosystem between these superintelligences and us, rather than one side fighting the other.
Ecosystem 2.0, digital, 2026
If a picture can make that conversation a little calmer and more curious, that’s how I hope my work helps.
I hope my own path carries a message too. I always want to use my personal example to retire the bias that people turn to art because they weren’t good enough at engineering or analytics. I chose engineering on purpose, and years later I chose art just as deliberately. I think of the analytical and the creative as our left and right eyes. Each sees the world a little differently, and you only get real depth when both are open. I hope everyone who loves both science and art feels they don’t have to pick a side.
Tell us about a memorable work that is very close to you
The one closest to me right now is Blossoms in Steps. I made it for a 2026 New Year collection, celebrating the Year of the Horse, and it was my first time doing a New Year piece for a local boutique store in my city.
Blossoms in Steps, digital, 2025
The concept is inspired by the Chinese saying “a face lit up with joy.” I created a playful design that reimagines the expression as a horse carrying the warmth of spring, with new blessings and good fortune blooming with every step.
What made it special was seeing it come to life. The artwork went onto silk and fabric and into a New Year calendar, things people actually use in their homes, and that was really encouraging. It also felt a little like coming full circle, because Suzhou is famous for silk and for patterns with lucky meanings, and here was my own pattern work printed on silk.
Your advice to students?
I still feel early in my own journey too, but here’s what has helped me most.
- You don’t have to choose one identity. Look for what your different interests have in common instead of treating them like rivals. My two careers make each other stronger.
- Stay positive. A professor once told me that if you keep thinking about competition, you’ll never achieve anything, and that positivity is the key.
- Be honest with yourself. Know what you actually feel, what you want, and where you still need to grow. That honesty is also where trust with other people begins.
- Think critically about advice. Most people want to help, but everyone speaks from their own path, including me. Learn to ask what fits you.
Future plans?
I plan to keep both halves of my life. I won’t give up data science, because I don’t see it and illustration as separate paths. They’re in constant conversation with each other.
On the illustration side, I haven’t gotten bored of editorial or commercial work, so I’d love to work with more magazines, publishers, and clients across different industries. One collaboration I especially hope to try is working with technology companies, using illustration to help the public understand complex technologies and good practices in a more human, imaginative way. Because I work in both worlds, I think I can see where they meet. It would be challenging, but also meaningful and exciting.
Mostly, I just want to keep growing. I don’t plan to jump to a completely new direction. With each new piece, I try to step half a step outside my comfort zone, so I’m widening the range of directions open to me while staying rooted in what I already know.
Website: www.bingyu-zhou.com