CSpotlight: Building a career through research and scholarship

A lifelong interest in computing brought B.S. student Joe Numainville to the University of Minnesota, and the Hopper-Dean scholarship allowed him to engage in fulfilling research as part of his undergraduate experience. After hands-on opportunities in security, human computer interaction, and data science, this new graduate is ready to start a career in software engineering,

Why did you choose to study computer science at the University of Minnesota?

I’ve always been interested in computers, so it was only natural for me to want to learn more about them in college. I also knew that computational skills could be applied in pretty much any type of industry after graduation. As for the University, I always wanted to attend the U of M. It’s a large university with lots of research and academic opportunities for me to explore.

What sparked your interest in computer science?

I really enjoy finding solutions to problems, and the versatility of the field presents many opportunities to apply computational skills and build systems across domains. This is also why I’m specifically interested in areas such as security and human computer interaction. Both of these research areas attempt to solve interesting and diverse problems that rely on human needs. This idea of cross-field applications is also why I enjoy working with data specifically, which can occur in all sorts of forms across literally any domain. The fact that I can utilize computers to build solutions to large-scale data problems that couldn’t be easily solved only a few decades ago amazes me.

Tell us more about your research with Professor David Haynes. What kind of projects did you work on through the U's Institute for Health Informatics?

The bulk of my work in the Haynes lab involved building geospatial visualization systems. For example, we built a geospatial analysis platform that allows anyone to explore data across space and time about COVID-19, such as cases, deaths, and clusters. Modern web frameworks are often underutilized to build geospatial dashboards like this one, despite their customizability. These web frameworks can help people build highly interactive visualizations.

How has the Hopper-Dean Scholarship impacted your academic career?

The Hopper-Dean scholarship has been immensely helpful. It’s allowed me to make time to have a really fulfilling research experience over the past several years, so I’m very grateful that I received it.

What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?

Don’t feel like you have to have one specialization within computing. It’s great if you figure out early what the type of problems you really enjoy working on, but those problems may be more than one specific field of computer science.

If you’re interested in research, don’t be too intimidated by professors. If you’re passionate about what they're passionate about, reach out. At the same time, be respectful of their time. If you have to pull away from your research, bring it up with whoever you’re researching with directly rather than trying to hide it.

What are your plans after graduation?

I’ve accepted a software engineering position that I look forward to starting.