Undergraduate Student Stories

5 startups poised to make pitches a reality, thanks to annual New Venture Challenge

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 22:46:47 +0000

5 startups poised to make pitches a reality, thanks to annual New Venture Challenge Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/20/2023 - 16:46

Kelsey Simpkins

Among the startups, Computer science student Evan Baltman and his team received $15,0000 for their pitch of LingDisco, an entirely new platform that combines music streaming and language learning into one app, harnessing the power of AI and natural language processing.

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CS student Brant Smith recognized as student leader

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 23:29:49 +0000

CS student Brant Smith recognized as student leader Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/04/2022 - 16:29

Brant Smith is a fifth-year student in the Outdoor Program pursuing a degree in computer science. He is one of the recipients of the Center for Leadership student leader of the year award.

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Will Loughlin: D1 athlete, CS senior & rare walk-on scholarship winner

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 23:07:04 +0000

Will Loughlin: D1 athlete, CS senior & rare walk-on scholarship winner Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/01/2022 - 16:07

Loughlin went from a lacrosse player with a passion for intramural basketball to a walk-on on CU �鶹ӰԺ's Division I basketball team — ultimately earning a scholarship in his senior year, the first time this has happened in at least 12 years. Even with his success on the court, Loughlin said he never lost focus on his academic work as a computer science major, learning to balance time management, teamwork, leadership and resilience with support from CU �鶹ӰԺ and his team.

What did it feel like to be awarded the scholarship?

The moment I was given the scholarship was one of the happiest moments of my life. I’ve worked very hard to get to where I’m at now and to be able to celebrate with my teammates was a feeling of pride and joy that I don’t really know how to put into words.

My basketball journey has been a little different than most. I started playing my senior year of high school, and if you had told me four years ago that I would earn a scholarship to play Division I basketball, I would have called you delusional. I couldn’t ask for better teammates or coaches and they made it possible for me to be successful here at CU.

As a computer science senior and a D1 athlete, how do you balance the demands on your time?

Balancing basketball and computer science has taught me a lot about time management and how to plan ahead to get things done efficiently and on schedule. I’ve found that I work well with a defined schedule and basketball has given me structure that helps me to stay on task and keep from procrastinating. I don’t have much free time, so procrastination isn’t really an issue when I know I don’t have the option to start projects late.

It has also been helpful to have a significant amount of required study hall time through the basketball program, and we have a great academic coordinator at the Herbst Academic Center, Mindy Sclaro, who makes sure we stay on task and that we aren’t falling behind in anything. The athletic department takes academics very seriously and it has been easier than I expected to balance basketball and computer science because I have a lot of support.

What is your CS capstone about?

I am in the Software Engineering Project capstone class and I am working with a team of CS students for a company called Saga Education to build a video conferencing solution similar to Zoom that will be used to deliver affordable math tutoring in historically marginalized communities across the country. We are working with their VP of engineering and it has been really interesting to learn about how projects like this are done in industry.

I am working with a great team of students and it’s a really cool opportunity to work with a real company on something that can have a positive impact on the world.

What’s one thing you enjoy about computer science?

I really enjoy the creative problem solving aspect of computer science. There are always unexpected problems that come up in the process of designing and building projects, and I have always enjoyed finding creative solutions to these issues.

I have been able to work on some great projects while I’ve been at CU �鶹ӰԺ. My favorite was a project for my software development class last year where I spent the semester building an online multiplayer video game. It’s pretty simple, but it was a ton of fun to make. You can play the game online if you want.

What’s one thing you enjoy about basketball?

I’m a very competitive person and I really enjoy that basketball is constant competition. It was especially nice to have a reason to get out of the house every day during COVID and compete with my buddies. Our coaching staff is really good about letting us compete in everything we do, and we keep some kind of score with a winner and loser in almost all our drills.

Any hopes for after graduation?

After I graduate I’m hoping to work as a software developer in Denver or Seattle. Software development is a really big field and I’m not entirely sure what kind of development I want to do, but I’m a quick learner and pretty easy going so I’ll be alright no matter where I end up. I’ve learned a lot about teamwork and leadership from my athletic career and I’m hoping I can put that to use in my career after I graduate.

What would you say to other student-athletes?

I would tell other student-athletes to not be afraid to try different subjects in school like computer science. I was very lucky to find computer science through AP Computer Science in high school, but if I hadn’t taken that class I doubt I would ever have majored in computer science or even known much about it. A computer science minor can be very useful even with a different major and will only become more prevalent as technology improves in the business world.

An interview with Will Loughlin, who balances a computer science senior capstone and life as a D1 basketball player. He recently received a scholarship as a walk-on, the first time in at least 12 years one has been awarded.

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Ben Capeloto brings engineering perspective to student government

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 18:21:02 +0000

Ben Capeloto brings engineering perspective to student government Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/05/2021 - 12:21

Ben Capeloto, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in computer science, is one of the first engineers to be elected as one of three student body presidents for the campus, referred to as tri-executives.

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First year's robotics work will help kids tell their stories

Anonymous — Tue, 25 May 2021 23:28:33 +0000

First year's robotics work will help kids tell their stories Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/25/2021 - 17:28

Catherine Arnold

Jasey Chanders

First year Jasey Chanders recently received an undergraduate research (UROP) grant to build robotics that stimulate kids in imaginative play.

This summer the double major student in computer science and creative technology & design will assemble a new platform for MindScribe, a research studio in which stuffed animals with robotic contents ask preliterate children questions and encourage reflection about the art they create. Kids often answer with bright eyed enthusiasm as seen in the video below.

Founded by triple PhD student and former preschool teacher Layne Jackson Hubbard in 2016, the studio won an Early Childhood Innovation Prize in 2018 for its ability to work one-on-one to maximize children’s potential in their first few years of life, as well as second place in an international human-robot interaction student design competition.

A former foster child, Hubbard said in this previous CU article that she returned to graduate school because her work in preschool teaching taught her investing in early childhood innovation “could positively shape the outcomes of adverse experiences, including trauma.”

“It’s so important for brain development to reflect on the world around us, but there’s not really support for that at younger ages,” said Chanders. “The goal behind all this work is to find a way to bring that back into education.”

[video:https://youtu.be/Q9SthhPlJIQ]

Caption: An early prototype of MindScribe using Wizard-of-Oz techniques to deliver voice interaction.

“I really liked the initiative Jasey showed in reaching out to me and expressing interest in MindScribe—especially during the first semester of her freshman year,” said Hubbard about Chanders’ involvement in her research studio.

Until recently, each stuffed animal was powered by a smartphone with an app programmed to voice the robot’s questions. Chanders will make it easier for children to control the robot’s voices and languages, allowing for reflective inquiry across home and school contexts.

Having headed up her high school robotics team’s software group and done her initial technology work in elementary school in the program FIRST Robotics, Chanders is excited to work with children. “The combination of robotics and helping younger kids show their view of the world drew me to this project,” said Chanders.

Chanders became involved after seeing Hubbard’s fall 2020 job post for a student researcher on the website for the University of Colorado ATLAS Institute, which focuses on creativity and invention initiatives. She emailed the graduate student and they began brainstorming how to work together the following summer. They decided to increase children’s control of the robot’s speech and language and when to stop or start the robot voice. They also talked about how to move MindScribe’s use of Arduino—a software and hardware known for its ability to read inputs, such as lights on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a social media message—onto a platform that could support children from multiple language backgrounds.

Beginning in the 2021 spring semester, Chanders watched tutorials on a few computer languages (Arduino, C++, and TypeScript) in preparation for the initiative’s May start. This summer she will work to understand more about how kids use the program, generate ideas for solutions, test a prototype with children, and make design adjustments in response to test results.

She looks forward to designing for the kids’ needs. As an example, Hubbard’s research found that children enjoy voices that are child-like, or playful, or even silly—as opposed to adult voices like those of Siri and Alexa. So Chanders plans to provide more voice options. The results of Hubbard’s study were recently accepted for publication in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Conference on Conversational User Interfaces, and will be published in July.

“We think by providing kids with child-centered options for their robot voice, they will have more agency and control in the child-robot interaction,” said Hubbard.

Chanders’ own interest in robotics started with LEGO^® toys with motors, she said. She’s also made ideas into physical reality in ways that include illustrating birds and sewing. Getting involved in FIRST Robotics as a kid, Chanders took part in competitions until a break in eighth grade made her miss it. She returned in ninth grade to robotics, and later “practically lived and breathed robotics in the building.”

MindScribe’s work didn’t start with her, Chanders said. “This project is one I’m taking to the next step, but quite a few other students brought to this level. Arva Syed, an undergrad in ATLAS, was instrumental in the initial prototyping of this design. I’m taking what she and the lab developed and bringing it into function so it can be tested.”

With the MindScribe work, Chanders looks forward to “recombining in different ways” some of her existing skills, learning to use Arduino, and working with kids.

“Young children have unique needs, and in this work Jasey will strengthen her ability to design and prototype for such a critical period of life,” said Hubbard.

Mentioning her enthusiasm for making concepts into physical reality, Chanders said, “Robotics is a satisfying way to take that passion and maybe have a positive impact on the world, help others tell their stories.”

First year Jasey Chanders recently received an undergraduate research (UROP) grant to build robotics that stimulate kids in imaginative play.

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Exemplary seniors earn Graduating Student Awards

Anonymous — Sun, 02 May 2021 16:14:15 +0000

Exemplary seniors earn Graduating Student Awards Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/02/2021 - 10:14

Four students from the Department of Computer Science earned Graduating Student Awards. These honors are conferred to seniors who are nominated by faculty, staff or fellow students for their outsanding contributions.

"The Department of Computer Science is proud to have graduates like Sasha, Will, Cathleen, and Matthew," said Ken Anderson, chair of the department. "We celebrate Matthew’s research accomplishments and hope they inspire other students to seek out the joys of our undergraduate research opportunities. We applaud Will’s dedication to his education and the ownership he took in finding his passions and his homes here at CU, and sharing his wisdom so that other students can follow in his path and find their way to success. We are grateful for the impact that Sasha and Cathleen have had on our undergraduate community. Their leadership in creating opportunities for students in our department, college, and on campus—via Sasha’s work on Engineering Council and Cathleen’s work in CU’s Women in Computing—will have profound impacts for many years to come. They are excellent students who went above and beyond to improve our community to make things better for all. All four students have my thanks and I wish them, and all of our graduates, great success as they move on to the next stage in their lives.

The Department of Computer Science will celebrate graduation in a virtual ceremony on Thursday, May 6 at 1 p.m.

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