CSpotlight: Getting Involved at the University

Why did you choose to pursue a degree in computer science and mathematics specifically at the University of Minnesota?

I decided on computer science a long time ago. I identify a lot as a problem solver since I enjoy solving puzzles and problems. Computer science and coding in general are a way for me to apply that problem solving in a way that reaches many people by developing applications that can reach people anywhere in the world. I am solving problems that help people in their day-to-day lives and I can impact a lot of people. I was primarily interested in the community at the University of Minnesota and was interested in finding a place where I could have a lot of my interests shine in the computer science program.

I also was interested in pursuing the honors program. A lot of my computer science interests are interdisciplinary and I like making applications and machine learning models that apply to other hobbies or interests. The honors program was the biggest thing that fell in line  with the clubs at the university that I was interested in, such as the App Developers Club, where I am currently the president.  I am also pursuing a math major because I like challenging myself. The truth is, I am really bad at math, and I added the math major to force myself to improve and get better at that. 

How did you become interested in computer science? What are your specific interests within the field?

I got interested in computer science at a young age. My dad was an electrical engineer and a systems administrator back in the day. He is now a creative writer. He had books on programming and I thought the books looked interesting and I started reading through them. I asked my dad about them and he started teaching me the basics and then I went out on my own. I liked spending my time doing puzzles and playing games that could exercise my problem solving ability. Coding came in to substitute that and became my new focus and passion. My main focus is software engineering for the web where I make full-stack applications. I make the front end, the back end, and mobile apps. I like working with advanced frameworks. I have an interest in machine learning academically, which is what I do when I am not working on models for convolutional neural networks for optical recognition of Asian characters, which has been my focus for the past few years. 

Tell us more about your internship experiences.

Last summer, I interned at Amazon in Seattle as a software engineer for an AWS team called the Admin Console Team. I had two projects throughout that internship and I improved performance on my team's product on our front ends by upwards of 97%. I contributed to Amazon’s design system, which is Cloudscape, and their component package, Cloudscape.

Congratulations on your CS&E Scholarship! How will this scholarship impact your academic and extracurricular work?

Scholarships are the only reason that I can be here in the first place, coming from Brazil and not having a lot of financial support. I have to figure out how I am paying for my education. Without my scholarships, it would not be possible to be here studying computer science and it wouldn’t be possible to get this internship. I am grateful to everyone who gave me a scholarship, because  it allows me to not have to work  as often. I do work the maximum 20 hours allowed per week for international students. Hopefully, getting more scholarships eases up on that and I can spend less time at work and more time studying and contributing to the community and my clubs. 

Are you involved in any student groups? What inspired you to get involved? 

I am an officer for nine clubs and am involved in many things. For most of my clubs, I put the computer science skills into practice. I enjoy making our websites a lot of the time. I am the president of the App Developers Club, which is a club for practical software engineering experience. We do interview prep, workshops, and we code together. I am the vice president of the Taekwondo Club and I am on the sparring team. I am an officer for the Archery Club, and I am also in Gopher ESports as the captain of the overwatch team. I am the WebMaster for the Robotics Team and the tech lead for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Club. Engaging with student organizations is a big passion of mine because I have a lot of hobbies and I enjoy finding other people who I can explore them with. 

What do you hope to contribute to the computer science community at the University?

My biggest contribution is through the App Developers Club, because a lot of work that I do there directly translates to value for the university and the student body. For example, we teach these workshops that give students experience on specific technologies that are popular on the market and give them practical experience that can directly  apply at a company or wherever they go next. We build apps for the university that benefit students. Last year we built an app called Gopher Tunnels, similar to Google Maps that works with the Gopher Way tunnels at the university. We also do interview prep where we prepare students to not only have that computer science background and the practical ability, but also to do well in interviews.

Have you been involved in any research on campus?

Since last year, I have been doing research on machine learning models for recognition of handwritten Asian characters, specifically for Japanese. I built an app out of it called Yaiba, for people learning Japanese. It was my private research where I expanded that into a product and that impacted people. 

What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?

Never stop being curious because things are changing all the time. It is important that you know the latest and greatest thing that is out there. Pay attention to foundations because they come back a lot. Most people underestimate that and don’t remember foundational algorithms or data structures. Engage with all the student groups and resources that they have on campus.