CSpotlight: Driven to Develop
Why did you choose to study computer science specifically at the University of Minnesota?
The University of Minnesota has a strong computer science program. In addition, there are many opportunities for computer science students to get involved outside of academics. The University of Minnesota offers some of the best research opportunities in the nation, and there are a variety of computer science clubs/organizations available for students to join.
How did you become interested in computer science?
My initial interest in computer science began with video games. I began developing games with Scratch when I was 10 years old. From there, I delved deeper into game development and animation. I learned to create cloth/fluid animations, model 3D characters, and rig characters using Blender 3D. In middle school, I challenged myself to develop and publish an iOS game to the App Store. After many failed attempts, I developed and published my first app “Helium Adventure” to the App Store in high school using Unity. The app had 1500+ downloads worldwide within the first year and was featured in a Yahoo Tech article highlighting the app as one of the “top 10 free apps.” This inspired me to continue creating new projects and explore different areas within computer science.
Tell us more about your work at Tesla Works. What kind of project did you work on?
I led a project in which my team and I assembled/coded an Arduino robot to identify someone as male or female using a convolutional neural network. First, the robot would identify a face and take a photograph. The image is then sent to the neural network, which decides if the person in the image is male or female. The decision from the neural network is sent back and the robot reacts by either moving its head vertically or sideways. The neural network was trained with an open source dataset with 500K+ labeled images. The project was fully funded by Tesla Works, and we were able to complete the project within 6 months of starting.
How did you get involved with Atland Ventures? Tell us more about this!
A close friend recommended I join Atland Ventures, which is a venture capital firm run entirely by University of Minnesota students. Atland Ventures primarily invests in Gen-Z focused early stage technology startups. Through Atland Ventures, I have connected with startup founders across the nation and learned to conduct due diligence on early stage tech startups. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is something I have always been interested in, and being a Partner at Atland Ventures has allowed me to learn about what is needed for a startup to succeed from an investor’s standpoint.
Tell us more about your internship at Optum. How did your academic background prepare you for this internship?
I had two internships at Optum, one with the Image Processing & Rapid AI Delivery Team and another with the Clinical Gateway Team. As part of the Image Processing & Rapid AI Delivery Team, I was tasked with creating a user interface for developers to easily access files on Optum’s Image Processing Platform and to train a neural network to clean dirty documents from UnitedHealth Group so they can be used for further processing. With the Clinical Gateway Team, I was tasked with creating a data lineage system to track the movement of data from one location to another within Optum. I had the opportunity to create a user interface to view lineage information, work with the team’s CI/CD pipeline, and develop an API to update lineage data. The University of Minnesota provided me with fundamental computer science knowledge that made learning new technologies and tools easier throughout both internships.
What research projects are you involved with?
For the past couple years, I have been working under Dr. Levin on a research publication aiming to minimize passenger wait times in a simulation of shared autonomous vehicles. The simulation ensures vehicles pick up and drop off passengers in the most efficient way possible using linear programming, a genetic algorithm, and a shortest path algorithm.
What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?
Get involved on campus! There are many opportunities for computer science students to build something outside of the classroom, like getting involved in university research or joining organizations like the Solar Vehicle Team. If there isn’t a project or organization on campus that interests you, take advantage of the fact that you are in college and start your own!
What are your plans after graduation?
I will be joining Meta as a Software Engineer at their headquarters in Menlo Park, California.