Yan Rui was born in May 1999 in Shanxi Province and enrolled in the University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2017. She majors in Environmental Engineering at the School of Energy and Environmental Engineering. Now she has been recommended to pursue an academic master's degree at the School of Environmental Engineering, Beijing Normal University.

She ranked third from 110 students in her department over the past three years, with more than 95 points for most of the specialized courses. In her spare time, she has taken elective courses like ecological restoration technology, environmental health, clean production, and circular economy to improve scientific literacy. She has won many awards like; the People's First-class, Third-class Scholarship, the Shanxi Province special Third-class Scholarship, and the Bohuit Scholarship.

She has a high enthusiasm for English learning. She insists on taking 1-2 English courses every semester to improve her professional oral and writing skills. Meanwhile, she keeps the habit of watching TED talks and reciting words every day. She has won the third prize in the National English Competition for College Students and the first prize in the National Translation Competition for College Students.

At the undergraduate stage, she has started to engage in scientific research projects. She studied environmental sanitation under her supervisor’s guidance and participated in relevant projects of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As a second author, she published a paper entitled “Biogas Standard System in China” in Renewable Energy Journal (SCI Top 1, Q1, IF=6.274). As the leader of the Student Research Training Program, she organized the team to conduct research and write papers, and as a first author, she wrote a paper entitled “Operation status of public toilets in the Hutong neighborhoods of Beijing: An Empirical Study”, which was submitted to the Journal of Environmental Management, (SCI Top 2, Q1, IF=5.647). Also, she participated in the Finish Mondial International Sanitation Challenge to provide original sanitation ideas for poor or water-poor countries. Besides, she has also won the second prize in the 13th National University Students' Social Practice and Science and Technology Competition on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction, and second prize in the 21st "Cradle Cup" University Students' Academic Science and Technology Works Competition.

At the same time, she is a serious and responsible person for her student work and has been awarded the honorary titles of "87 Alumni Fund Outstanding Student Cadre" which only has one place one per year in the School and "Top ten League Branch Secretary" (1/10) of the college.

As the league branch secretary, she initiated rainbow series themed league days, including ideological and political guidance, study atmosphere construction, career planning direction, social volunteer service, anti-epidemic self-discipline campaign, etc. The class collective has been propagandized on the official platform of the school many times and won the municipal honorary title in the sophomore year.

Besides, she is keen on public volunteer services, participated in abundant voluntary activities including directing in the Summer Palace, hospital guidance, family teachers, “friends of the environmental protection”, “ green dormitory” trash recycling. Moreover, she sets up a “meet” series of voluntary work, which includes the National Museum, Tsinghua University, the Summer Palace, and other places of cultural education visit to help migrant children enrich their life and set ambitions. As a result, she and her team received a silk banner and won the title of "top 100 volunteers" of the college.

She has passionate about life. She is good at playing erhu, a Chinese traditional instrument, and has obtained the highest social art certificate. Also, she won second place in the speech contest of "My University Plan", and the second prize in the group debate competition. She also participated in the School's Christmas-New Year party, English primary school completion performance, sketch, stage play, and other forms of artistic performances. In daily life, she attaches great importance to self-education, and also she has everyday plans for English learning, software application, yoga, and fitness, etc.