Working Towards a Better World

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

I always knew I was going to go to the University of Minnesota, the main reason was because the computer science program was well known. There are many professors in the research fields I am interested in. I am also familiar with the Minneapolis area as I grew up around here. I am intrigued by the mathematical side of computer science and the applications.

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

I originally applied to the university as a biology major, and I switched majors right before I started classes. What interests me most about computer science is the mathematics and the problem solving aspect of it. My focus is multi-agent systems and machine learning, which intersects with statistics and linear algebra. It interested me given the boom in Large Language Models (LLMs). I wanted to understand them more in depth and that really drove my course selection. For multi-agent systems, I found it interesting that it was a classical take on intelligence in a robotic setting. 

Tell us more about your internship experiences.

I did an internship at Huntington Bank. I enjoyed the team that I worked with, and they have been helping me a lot. I worked with their risk and fraud department and DevOps in their machine learning DevOps department. I have also been doing a lot of interviews with medical device companies for next summer. 

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

I am involved in Net Impact, which is a sustainability-focused club that is mostly interested in social and mental equity and how to implement those strategies. I am also involved in the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence (MCAE) for underrepresented students. As I am a first generation student, it was nice to know people who have similar backgrounds. 

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

Last semester, I spent the majority of my free time working on my research proposal for the summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). This semester, I had scholarships that covered some of those expenses. I have more freedom and ability to pursue all my interests in their entirety. This scholarship gives me more time to focus on my academics, and I am extremely grateful for that.  

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

The main thing I want to contribute to is research. I want to develop the field in some way. I took an undergraduate research course, and I extremely enjoyed the class and my professor. The computer science field is ever changing, and when you are doing your PhD or undergraduate research, it is more unpredictable. I want to contribute to the computer science community in a way that makes a lasting impact on lives and increases the performance of healthcare. 

Have you been involved with any research on campus?

I did a research project under professor Maria Gini for Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, and I submitted that as a final project and as my project for UROP. My UROP proposal was on reinforcement learning within an iterated prisoners dilemma implementing monticarlos research in graphical networks. It is taking something that is very classical to computer science, such as a gameplay mechanic of prisoners' dilemma, and adding on other machine learning aspects to model trust. I submitted my work to a conference and I want to continue my work in classes that allow for open-ended projects. 

What advice do you have for incoming computer science students?

My advice is that you are going to feel stupid, and that is OK. When I first came into the field, I understood nothing and thought that everything was confusing. You do have to stick with that for a while and realize that you are not going to understand everything. You will get there eventually. Don’t worry and feel like you are going to fail, because you will learn over time. What I struggled with most when I was a freshman was dealing with the feeling that everything is hard, but you will get there eventually. 

What are your plans after graduation?

Currently I am in the integrated masters program because I would have graduated early. My end goal after graduate school is to work within the private sector research or anywhere within medical technologies, multiagent technologies, or data mining. I want to be able to help people in some way and computer science allows for a lot of options to better people's lives. 

Are there any additional experiences that you would like to highlight in this article?

I found out about the integrated masters program through my undergraduate research class. It was an extremely beneficial class for getting resources for everything. Look into the resources your department offers to work on yourself and to improve.