2025 Honoring our Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Donors
Siebel School of Computing and Data Science students, alumni, and faculty have long been recognized for their leadership contributions to computing and information technology in the classroom, in the research lab, and in industry. We are honored to celebrate these accomplishments, as well as the work of the staff and the generosity of our donors. We are deeply grateful for these contributions and immensely proud of these collective achievements. We are excited to be gathering for an in-person celebration on Friday, April 25, 2025. Please join us in recognizing all these stellar accomplishments.
Sincerely,
Nancy M. Amato
Director, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering
Alumni
Undergraduate Students
Graduate Students
Faculty
Staff
Donors
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science annually recognizes alumni and faculty members who have made professional, technical, educational, or service contributions that bring distinction to themselves, the department, and the university.
Each year, the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science recognizes several outstanding undergraduate students for their academic achievements and leadership contributions in the classroom, research lab, and the community. Many of these scholarships and awards are made possible by generous donations from alumni, friends, and corporate partners, and make a significant difference in supporting students during their academic and career pursuits.
I am a James Scholar Honors student at UIUC and am majoring in Computer Science and Economics. On campus, I am also a Project Manager for Enactus, a social entrepreneurship organization. I have experience developing projects in several programming languages, and I have a passion for public speaking, and have loved taking part in activities like Debate, Speech, and Mock Trial. In high school, I started using my voice to make a difference, and I have given speeches at various climate conferences and rallies to call for environment protection. I look forward to using CS to continue to make change!
Josh is a freshman studying Computer Science. He conducts research in motion planning and reinforcement learning with Professor Nancy Amato and is an upcoming test engineering intern at Motorola Solutions. He serves as the RT High School Outreach Chair for SHPE and is passionate about using AI to change lives, especially within underrepresented communities.
Sneha is a sophomore studying Statistics and Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through the CS STARS program, she is conducting research with Dr. Tal August on understanding how the levels of certainty, correctness and exaggeration in a paper impact those levels in the papers that cite it. She is a past recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Regional Award, and has previously interned with Arrcus Networks.
Emily Amezcua-Bravo is a first-generation Latina studying Computer Science at UIUC. She is part of CS STARS, working with Professor Karrie Karahalios on AI research with a focus on social impact. She interned at AbbVie, where she improved hardware workflows and device operations across teams. Emily was selected for Jane Street’s upcoming Focus program, a competitive experience in algorithmic problem-solving and trading. She’s a CBO Scholar and contributes to outreach through SAILea, a global nonprofit supporting AI education in high schools. In her free time, she enjoys badminton, nature walks, and chai lattes.
Alyssa is a senior in Statistics & Computer Science with a minor in Public Health. At Illinois, she is a course assistant for STAT 107, a Statistics Department Ambassador, and an undergraduate research assistant in Pamela Martinez’s lab. She has previously interned at AbbVie and performed research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she plans to pursue graduate studies in the fall.
Melissa Aninagyei-Bonsu is a Junior studying Computer Science , where she conducts research on motion planning, algorithms, and interconnect optimization. She is a CS STAR, promoting inclusive excellence in computing, and currently serves as the Vice President of B[U]ILT, a student organization supporting Black, Latino, and Indigenous students in tech. Melissa also leads the NSBE x B[U]ILT Talent Pipeline Project, focused on creating career pathways and mentorship opportunities for underrepresented students in STEM.
Fatih is a junior majoring in Statistics and Computer Science. He has been a course assistant for CS 124, CS 225, and CS 340, each for two semesters. His interests lie at the intersection of data-driven decision making, machine learning, and scalable systems. He enjoys exploring how statistical modeling and algorithmic design can work together to solve real-world problems. He will be interning with Capital One as a Machine Learning Engineer Intern this summer.
Hi, my name is Waidat Bada and I am a senior majoring in Computer Engineering!
Yohali is a 1st year student studying Computer Science. She is also a recipient of the President’s Award Honors Scholarship and a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society. Additionally, she is contributing to Computer Science educational research that focuses on teaching python to k-12 students at surrounding schools.
Thomas is a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering. He has served as a course assistant for CS 124 for seven semesters and will be pursuing graduate studies with a focus on power electronics and energy systems
Elisa Carrillo is a senior Computer Science major and will be joining Snapchat in Los Angeles as a full-time Software Engineer after graduation. At Illinois, she served as president of Black [Underrepresented] Indigenous Latinos in Tech (B[U]ILT), mentored first-year students in ENG 111 through the Morrill Engineering Program (MEP), and developed for PrairieLearn to support theoretical CS courses.
I am a senior in Math and Computer Science, and I love learning about quantum computing and theoretical CS. I have been a course assistant for CS 374 twice, and I really enjoy thinking about related problems, especially graph theory, explaining the concepts to studentss, and thus reenforcing my own knowledge. I do research in quantum entanglement theory and error correction, and work at LabEscape, which is both a hobby project and a dream job.
Kevin is a senior in Computer Science with a passion for solving problems and building innovative projects. Outside the classroom, he is involved in communities like SHPE and BUILT, finding mentorship, support, and opportunities to grow alongside peers. Kevin values teamwork both in projects and student organizations and is always looking for ways to learn, take on new challenges, and contribute wherever he can. He is excited to continue his journey by pursuing a Master’s degree and deepening his knowledge in artificial intelligence.
Clara is a freshman studying computer science with a minor in statistics. She is interested in human-computer interaction and statistical learning. At Illinois, she is a course assistant for STAT 200. This summer, she will be a research assistant at the University of Chicago under Professor Ken Nakagaki, researching human-computer interaction and interaction design.
Adya is a freshman majoring in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is a Chancellor’s Scholar and a participant in the CS STARS program. She has conducted research on leveraging AI to develop climate-smart rice varieties and enhance sustainable energy solutions. As co-founder of the Hamara Prayas Foundation, Adya has raised nearly $2,000 to build a blood bank in Begusarai, India, and coordinated two local blood drives. Recently, her team won the Fan Favorite Prize at HackIllinois 2025 for developing Minti, an AI-integrated budgeting tool.
Lily is a freshman working towards our B.S in Computer Science. Her research interests are in computer vision and machine learning. Outside of class, she enjoys working on personal projects and kart racing. She is currently working towards a project that uses machine learning to analyze racing data and optimize the racing path.
Alondra is a junior studying Computer Science at Illinois. She transferred in Fall 2024 through the Engineering Pathways program from Wilbur Wright College. At Illinois, she has been heavily involved with B[U]ILT and will be serving as External Director for the RSO in the next academic year. This summer she will be interning at Atlassian as a Software Engineering Intern.
Sriya is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy. She is interested in artificial intelligence and the intersection of ethics and technology. She is currently researching social media moderation with Professor Eshwar Chandrasekharan.
Jizheng is a last year undergraduate student double majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. His research interests are in building end-to-end wireless systems for sensing and communication scenarios. He has won the student research competition in ACM International Conference of Mobile Computing and Networking
Emily is a senior in CS+GGIS and has been a participant in CS STARS for four semesters now. She is currently doing research with ChengXiang Zhai on LLMs and medical knowledge.
Nicole is a second year student majoring in CS and Econ with a minor in Stats. At Illinois, she is an undergraduate research assistant for the ConvAI Lab through CSSTARS, is on the Outreach Committee for WCS, and is on the iOS team for HackIllinois.
Lauren is a sophomore studying computer science. She is a software developer in the d7 Research Group and in Hack4Impact at Illinois, and previously interned at PayPal.
Yoshee is a juniod Chancellor’s Scholar majoring in Computer Science. She is involved with various RSOs, including AI@UIUC, R|P, ACM, etcetera, to inspire girls to take up STEM fields as careers. As a self-motivated learner, she is seen thriving while pursuing research at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and CS education, mental health and well-being, and online social community moderation techniques. She strives to benefit the world by combining her hands-on technical background and humanitarian spirit to pay forward.
Shreya is a second-year Computer Science student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As part of CS STARS, she collaborates with Professor Yongjoo Park in the DAIS Group to develop visualization techniques for Transformer-based models using D3.js and PyTorch. Beyond her research, Shreya is deeply engaged in the CS community. She serves as the Corporate Chair for Reflections | Projections, organizing networking events for students, and as a Senior Consultant for CUBE Consulting, where she mentors consultants on technical projects.
Anisha is a senior in computer science at UIUC and does research with Professor Shaffer to simulate gravitational waves in virtual reality. She has interned at Intel and Roblox and hopes to continue studying graphics, vision, and robotics in graduate school.
Navtej is a senior majoring in Computer Science and Economics. He is passionate about teaching and has served as a course assistant for CS 340 for three semesters. He is an undergraduate researcher under Professor Song in the Economics department, supporting behavioral economics and social science research, as well as in the Kang Lab, working on vulnerability research at the intersection of AI/ML and cybersecurity. Navtej has previously interned at The White House, the U.S. Department of State, Amazon, and NVIDIA.
Adrian Lara is a junior studying Computer Science with a minor in Technology and Management. At Illinois, he has been a Course Assistant for CS128 since January 2023 and currently serves as Treasurer for Black [Underrepresented] Indigenous Latinos in Tech (B[U]ILT). Adrian will be interning as a software engineer at Atlassian in May 2025.
Savannah Lau is a Computer Science undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, conducting research through the CS STARS program under Professor Kumar in the Data Driven Design Group. Her work focuses on developing a web application for collecting and editing user interaction data through screen recordings. The platform is designed to facilitate the collection of high-quality data while enabling the removal of sensitive content. Savannah is working on the design and implementation of the editing stage, with an emphasis on preserving data usability and ensuring user privacy.
Janine is a sophomore studying Computer Science and Economics at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is interested in human-computer interaction and UX design fields. Currently, she is working with Dr. Sarah Sterman on interactive computing research on community-building wall displays in makerspaces.
Yixuan Li is a graduating senior in the Mathematics and Computer Science program at UIUC. He previously interned at NetEase, contributing to game development and character design. In his free time, he enjoys creating original characters and designing merchandise. He also builds interactive visualizations to help explain optimization algorithms, which he showcases at UIUC’s annual Engineering Open House (EOH).
Sean is a senior studying both Computer Science and Linguistics. He was a CS 374 CA and represented Illinois in the 76th International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals. He is currently conducting research on phylogenetics and historical linguistics, supervised by Professor Tandy Warnow.
Eunice Mok is a sophomore studying Computer Science. She is a current research under Professor Eshwar Chandrasekharan in the Social Computing Lab where she explores content moderation strategies on social media to promote pro-social behavior.
Sana Naffakh is a Computer Science student at UIUC with a passion for AI and backend development. She has conducted research on visualizing cancer tumor evolution through interactive phylogenetic trees and is currently working on a deep learning project focused on camouflaged object detection, aiming to evaluate and adapt model performance for real-world scenarios.
Shivi is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and Bioengineering. At Illinois, she is involved in CS STARS, Women in Computer Science, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Since her freshman year, Shivi has been conducting research under Professor Pablo Robles Granda on an anomaly detection project using wearable data for Parkinson’s patients. She previously interned at Abbott and will be joining Eli Lilly this summer as an AI/ML intern.
Linna is a junior majoring in Statistics & Computer Science. She is involved in CS STARS and works as an undergraduate research assistant with Professor Brian Bailey, focusing on human-computer interaction. Currently, she is developing a data-augmented peer evaluation system that leverages data-driven methods to promote transparency and fairness in collaboration-based assessments.
Chinasa Nwosu is a first year within the ARISE program that is heavily interested in quantum computing. He is a NACME Scholar Award recipient and a previous Digital Scholars intern within Discovery Partners Institute.
Eisha is a senior studying CS, with a focus on accessibility, systems, and embedded software. Her work spans technical research within ScribeAR, as well as mentorship/outreach through her roles as a CS341 course assistant, 3-year CS STARS member, and former lead at the Illinois Space Society. As a member of the Class of 2025’s Senior 100 Honorary and recipient of the Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Certificate, Eisha is passionate about developing impactful technology and supporting her community. She has interned at NASA, Motorola Solutions, and more, and is joining Impulse Space full-time as a flight software engineer.
Paloma is a freshman majoring in Computer Science. At Illinois, she is a course assistant for CS124 and serves as the Marketing Director for B[U]ILT (Black, Indigenous, and Latinx in Tech). She is currently working on a bus app project aimed at improving the reliability of predicted bus arrival times.
Ranjani Ramesh is a James Scholar undergraduate computer science student, minoring in economics who is also a Dean’s List recipient. She served as one of two Course Leads for CS 124 Honors, one of the university’s only student-run honors computer science course, where she mentored over 300 students and fostered an inclusive learning community. She is also the founder of a patented medtech startup for Parkinson’s screening. Her research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and medicine, and she will be working with Dr. Kai Miller at the Mayo Clinic on computational neuroscience.
Vani is an undergrad student majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Statistics. She is passionate about sustainability and broadening access to technology, and has conducted computational biology research under Professor Brad Solomon. At Illinois, she is involved with Women in Engineering, Quant, Women in CS, and Reflections|Projections, alongside being a CA for CS 225 and CS 222.
Saniya Sanders is a freshman in the school’s selective ARISE program, currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science. She is a recipient of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) High School Award and is passionate about using technology to solve real-world problems. Saniya is especially interested in research at the intersection of computer science and biology, with a focus on computational bioinformatics and computational biology. She hopes to contribute to improving cancer screening and diagnostics through the power of computation.
Raymundo is pursuing a BS in Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He’s part of SHPE’s Tech Team, where he helps build competition-ready robots using CAD, 3D printing, and hands-on engineering. Raymundo previously interned at Northwestern’s Fluid Dynamics Lab and led outreach programs for underrepresented students in STEM. He’s passionate about both tech and mentorship, and has helped refurbish and donate over 100 computers to communities in need.
Julian is a junior in Computer Science interested in Artificial Intelligence. He has been a course assistant for CS128 since January 2023. Now, as a senior staff member, he leads the CS128 Dev Team which develops, designs, and architects the course’s infrastructure. In 2024, he interned at Apple on the SwiftUI team. He is currently interning with NOX, an AI startup building a proactive personal assistant, and will return to Apple in May 2025.
Xiping is a senior student in Computer Science. At Illinois, she has been a course assistant for CS101 for nearly 3 years. Her research interests lies in human and robot interaction, tactile sensor and wearable devices.
Diego is a Computer Science senior and incoming MCS student in the 5-year BS/MCS joint degree program. After interning at WBD and working on Max streaming service, he is a Course Assistant for CS102 and CS222, as well as a member of the CS222 infrastructure team. This upcoming summer he will intern at Pinterest on the backend Core Engineering organization.
Anushree is a senior majoring in CS. At Illinois, she has been a head staff for CS 124, staffed CS 222. She has pursued research in NLP, LLMs, privacy/security, and interned at Amazon Web Services two summers.
Alex is a sophomore studying Industrial Engineering with a computational focus. He has worked on technical projects through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and held leadership roles in multiple campus housing organizations. This summer, he’ll return to Cincinnati to intern with Procter & Gamble for a second time.
Nishi is a third-year Computer Science + Linguistics student at Illinois. For the past two years, she has been conducting research in Conversational AI with the BLENDER NLP Lab, where her work on fine-tuning chatbots was published. Last summer, she was a Machine Learning Engineer Intern at Palo Alto Networks. Outside of academics, she serves as an Orientation Leader for Women in Engineering and a lead volunteer for Engineering Open House.
Amy Wang is a junior majoring in computer science from Princeton, New Jersey. Her passion for computer science began with the courses she took in high school, where her teacher frequently encouraged creative thinking through his unique assignments. She deeply enjoys teaching students, having done so since high school, and is passionate about combining this interest with her research to improve the quality of CS education. In her free time, you’ll probably find Amy reading, doodling, or going on fun exploration adventures with her friends.
Jingtong is a junior majoring in Computer Science. She is currently working on research involving remote sensing applications of machine learning under Professor Arindam Banerjee. This summer, she will be interning at Amazon.
Annie Zeng is a third year undergraduate. She is a recipient of the 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, and researches graph theory with Professor Chandra Chekuri and Professor Abhishek Methuku.
Xing is a senior majoring in computer science and minor in business. At Illinois, he is a James Scholar and has served as a course assistant for CS 124 and CS 411. He is a member of the Engineering Honor Society Tau Beta Pi and also joins the Illinois Scholars Undergraduate Research Program to conduct AI research on Large Language Models projects mentored by Professor Deming Chen.
Each year, the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science recognizes the achievements, leadership, and potential of graduate students who have earned prestigious fellowships and awards. Fellowships offer students the opportunity to focus on their graduate studies and research, while awards recognize the progress or overall excellence toward outstanding research or leadership contributions to the field. Many of these fellowships and awards are made possible by generous donations from alumni, friends, and corporate partners, and make a significant difference in supporting students during their academic and career pursuits.
Charlotte is a 5th year PhD student studying Social Computing advised by Professor Eshwar Chandrasekharan. She has previously been recognized for her teaching introductory computer science courses.
Federico Cifuentes-Urtubey is a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research develops wireless system privacy enhancements for Wi-Fi protocols. While at Illinois, he interned at Apple, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and Sandia National Labs. He led initiatives to build community among graduate students in B[U]ILT, and he served as the Graduate Ambassador in SHPE to support Hispanic graduate students in engineering. He has also been recognized by the Department of Computer Science as an Outstanding Teaching Assistant. Federico earned his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2018.
I am a fourth-year PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), working with Professor Matthew Caesar. My research focuses on understanding and verifying complex network systems through high-level language abstractions and formal methods.
Deeya is in the 4th and final year of our BS/MCS joint degree program. In her time at Illinois, she was President of ACM@UIUC, Co-Director of HackIllinois, and involved in a variety of student organizations, and research. Currentlt, she is a TA for CS 107 and an intern for ScaleAI.
Emmanuel is in his final year of the 5-year BS-MCS program. He worked at Capital One’s AI/ML Incubator lab, a CS 101 tutor, and a leader in the Morrill Engineering Program. He is graduating this semester and pursuing an AI/ML career.
Yi-Shyuan is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Computer Science. She has served as a TA for CS 221 including Head TA in the past semester. Her research interests lie in human-computer interaction. She has been selected as a Consumer Reports IoT design fellow.
James is a second-year PhD student working with Dr. Sarah Sterman. James’ research focuses on the intersections between writing studies, science of science, and AI.
Maverick Espinosa is completing the MCS degree program with a focus in data engineering. He works part-time as a data scientist at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, where he supports data management and builds complex systems to help researchers analyze study data. He is passionate about creating tools that make learning more accessible and personalized. His interests include exploring applications of the Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) process across domains such as healthcare, education, and entertainment. Outside of academics, Maverick enjoys all things music—including producing, mixing, listening, and sampling.
Shaurya Gomber is a first-year Ph.D. student working with Prof. Gagandeep Singh on program analysis and automated reasoning. He received his M.S. in Spring 2024, also with Prof. Singh. His thesis, Neural Abstract Interpretation, proposed the first framework for leveraging neural networks for automated, efficient, and differentiable abstract interpretation and received the David J. Kuck Outstanding M.S. Thesis Award. He also received the Richard T. Cheng Endowed Fellowship 2024. He holds a B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT Guwahati and has industry experience at D. E. Shaw & Co. and AWS’s Automated Reasoning Group.
Farouk is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on scalable algorithm design. He has published in top theoretical and machine learning venues including SODA and NeurIPS. Farouk has previously interned at Google and worked full-time at Citadel, and will be joining Two Sigma this summer. He has been head TA to CS374 at UIUC.
Shashwat is a 2nd year CS PhD student at Illinois. He received a bachelor’s degree from IIT Bhilai, where he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal – IIT’s highest student honour by the President of India. He has interned with Microsoft Research and Google in the past.
Ana received her BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington and is now a first year PhD student at Illinois working in Jim Rehg’s lab. Her research is in the area of social AI, developing multimodal models to analyze social dynamics in conversational settings.
Aditya is a 5th year PhD student working with Hari Sundaram – investigating how collectives interact with algorithmic systems. He is also a past recipient of the Computer Science Excellence Fellowship. He has TA’d CS361 for his entire time at Illinois. He has also worked/interned at various companies including Goldman Sachs, Snap, Instacart, and Vijil. Check out his website (https://adityakaran.me/) for more!
Anna is in her 5th year of the Ph.D. program. Her research interests lie in the area of distributed systems, edge computing and Internet of Things, and she is working with Professor Indy Gupta. She has previously interned at Apple and Twitter.
Ashish is a final-year PhD student in Systems, working with Prof. Sibin Mohan. He works on improving resilience of Real-Time embedded/edge computing systems using scheduling and worst-case analysis. He was selected as a RSA Scholar for his work on Real-Time Systems in critical infrastructure to attend RSA Conference ’24 & awarded an NSF Student Travel Grant to attend Cyber-Physical Systems Week ’25.He got his Bachelors degree from REC/NIT Tiruchirappalli, India and worked as an intern at Aviatrix, VMware and NVIDIA during his PhD.
Jasleen is a PhD student advised by Prof. Andrew Miller and works on applied cryptography, especially authenticated data structures. Her work Parakeet, which won the IRTF ANRP is the basis for a deployment at WhatsApp.
Yunze is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science. His research is generously supported by the NVIDIA PhD Fellowship. His research interests lie at the intersection of vision, machine learning, and robotics. He is working on developing vision-centric reasoning models for multimodal and embodied AI agents, with a focus on object-centric perception systems in dynamic scenes, vision foundation models for open-world scene understanding and generation, and large multimodal models for embodied reasoning and robotics planning.
Maleeha is a 4th Year PhD Student at UIUC exploring her interests in Systems and Networks.
Ajitesh is a final semester MCS student at Illinois. He completed his undergraduate studies at PES University. At Illinois, he has served as a teaching assistant for CS 427 and CS 527: Topics in Software Engineering. Last summer, he interned at Akamai Technologies and will be returning there full-time after graduation.
Rafae is a 5th year PhD student in the department of computer science. His research interests are in applying formal methods and compiler techniques for automated compiler construction
Margie is in her 5th and final year of our PhD program. At Illinois, she has been a graduate ambassador and volunteer for several recruiting efforts. She is a past recipient of the NSF GRFP and was in the inaugural cohort of the Grainger College of Engineering Diversity Ambassadors.
Sam is a 2nd year PhD student advised by Professor Sariel Har-Peled. He was a teaching assistant for CS 374 in the previous semester, as well as this spring. His focus in research is on computational geometry and mesh processing. He is also passionate about research and projects in CS education.
Arnav is currently in the 5th year of the BS/MS joint degree program at Illinois, focusing on pseudo-haptic techniques in virtual reality under the guidance of Professors Elahe Soltanaghai and Mohammad Alipour. His research aims to bridge the gap between physical interaction and virtual environments, contributing to innovations in immersive technologies. Arnav has presented his prior work at the Human-Computer Interaction International Conference. He has gained valuable industry experience through internships at leading companies such as Roblox, John Deere, and VirtuSense Technologies. Additionally, Arnav has been a teaching assistant for CS 357 and CS 173, complementing his technical expertise.
Utkarsh Sharma is a graduate researcher at the Molecule Maker Lab Institute (MMLI), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pursuing his Master’s in Computer Science. He created EquiCat, an equivariant graph neural network that predicts enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis using limited labeled data. His work earned the Best Poster Award at MMLI’s Scientific Poster Competition. Utkarsh is passionate about building intelligent, data-efficient systems that drive AI-powered discovery in catalysis and molecular science.
Dachun is in the fifth year of his PhD program under the guidance of Professor Tarek Abdelzaher. He focuses on the intersection of Social Network Analysis and Artificial Intelligence. He is also passionate about higher education and the integration of modern technology in the classroom.
Talha is a PhD student at Illinois, advised by Profs. Brighten Godfrey and Radhika Mittal. His research focuses on optimizing load balancing and resource scheduling in the cloud. Previously, he completed his undergrad at LUMS, where he worked on improving video streaming under memory pressure.
Chulin is a PhD student working on trustworthy machine learning and optimization with Professor Bo Li. She was awarded the 2024 Rising Star in Machine Learning, and has interned with Google, Microsoft, and NVIDIA.
Ananya is a 3rd year PhD student studying robotics with Drs. Nancy Amato and Katie Driggs-Campbell. Her research focuses on robotic motion planning and human-robot interaction. She is heavily involved in K-12 STEM outreach activities in the Champaign-Urbana area, including leading the Siebel School’s Girls Who Code and Sunday Coding Studio clubs. Ananya completed her bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Brain and Cognitive Science here at UIUC.
Ali is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate. He is advised by Karrie Karahalios and Ranjitha Kumar, researching how AI-based tools can be used to assist marginalized groups in their advocacy. He has served as CSGSO president for the past two years.
Jiyuan Zhang is a first-year Ph.D. student in Computer Science. He works with Prof. Tianyin Xu on improving the performance and scalability of modern cloud systems.
Emily Zhou is a BS-MCS student. She is the founder of the iVenture 11 start-up Sound of Molecules, which focuses on vertical AI agents for drug discovery.
Rui Zhou is in the first year of MS CS program and worked as a Research Assistant in Professor Kaiyu Guan’s Lab. His research is mainly focused on Process-Guided Machine Learning and Foundation Model Development.
Siebel School of Computing and Data Science faculty includes world-renowned researchers who have changed the face of computer science and rising stars who are disrupting industries and trailblazing new paths in the field. These awards recognize their accomplishments and contributions.
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science staff provides invaluable support for students, faculty, fellow staff, and the broader campus community to succeed at the highest levels of excellence. The department, college, and campus recognize staff members for their exemplary service and contributions.
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science wishes to thank all those who have so generously provided fellowships, scholarships, and awards. Your gifts support talented individuals as they prepare to make their impact on the computer science field. Thank you!
Click below to learn more about these generous donors and see past award recipients.
Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science
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