School of Computing and Analytics

Why Computer Science Department?

My interest in Computer Science began when I took my first programming course in high school. At the time, I did not know the different career paths that it could lead to. Since coming to college, I have realized the versatility of this major and how you can apply it to any field of study, career path or even just creating solutions to personal problems.

Experimental Learning

Throughout these past four years, I have been fortunate enough to participate in a wide variety of activities such as research assistantship, teaching assistantship, STEM ambassador, Cyber Defense team, ACM team, and internships.

I have had two internships, one as a Jr. Java Developer at Promevo LLC and the second as a Software Engineering Intern at Great American Insurance Group. I was given a wide range of tasks from debugging codes in existing features to developing and testing new features. Both internships allowed me to apply the theories I had learned in the classroom to the real world. In addition, it gave me the opportunity to get one-on-one advice from senior professionals in my field.

By participating in the NKU Cyber Defense team and the ACM team, I have improved my critical thinking, problem solving and time management skills as I got to compete in different competitions. Being part of these teams also helped me make new friends that had similar interests to mine and allowed me to create a sense of community at NKU.

Recommendation

I would recommend students to get hands-on experience in their related fields. This can be through research, internships, hackathons, open source projects or personal projects. I would say internships were the most valuable for me because it allowed me to work in the industry and gave me an insight on how life would be like after graduation. I would also encourage students to join on-campus organizations so that they can meet other students in their field. Lastly, I strongly advise that students should never be afraid to show their achievements whether at school or at work. People cannot recognize your work and reward you for it if you do not show your accomplishments. So, make sure to get to know your professors outside of the classroom and utilize resources such as LinkedIn to highlight your experiences and accomplishments.

After Graduation Plans

My plan after graduation is to join Google in their Software Engineering Residency program in Mountain View, California!

Tell us about your current role

I am working at Huntington Bank as a Cloud Engineer. 

      Co-curricular/Involvement activities in college

I was a campus tour guide, a tutor, a teaching assistant, a member of the Honors Student Association, a founding editor of the Honors College Magazine, and a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority where I held the positions of Historian, Vice President, and Chapter President. 

Favorite NKU Memory

My freshman year I lived in the Honors College dorm. When the residents in my hall moved out we got to leave our handprints in paint on the dorm’s wall, and it was so much fun decorating our handprints.

Advice for students

Get out of your comfort zone, and try new things. You never know what activities you will enjoy or what new friends you could make!

Tell us about your current role

I’m currently a Senior Software Developer consultant at Callibrity. I’ve been with the company for 4 years in May. During that time, I have had the opportunity to work with 3 major clients on long term projects. My most recent project was working with Kroger intheir Health & Wellness space on the covid vaccine scheduling form as well as managing prescriptions online, and scheduling antibody tests.

      Co-curricular/Involvement activities in college

While attending NKU, I took part in a variety of activities within and outside of the College of Informatics. I was a member of Women In Informatics serving as president my senior year. I also had the opportunity to participate in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). This research experience at the College of Staten Island allowed me to experiment with cryptology in the form of MD5 and SHA-1 hash functions.  During my senior year, I created a tutor system using artificial intelligence as my Honors Capstone project with Dr. Fox. Throughout college, I worked at the Center For Applied informatics (now Informatics+), campus rec center, math center and calculus lab. In 2015, I was an intern for a startup company called Strap that analyzed health data generated from wearable technology. My last semester of college I interned at TutorGen, which specialized increating adaptive learning systems. Last but not least, I was a part of Delta Gamma where I oversaw the chapter finances my senior year.

Favorite NKU Memory

Originally, I started out as a Mathematics major, knowing little to nothing about coding or anything related to Computer Science. I was put in INF120 Intro to Programming my freshman year to fill up some of my credit hours. I absolutely loved the class! I distinctlyremember Dr. Campan handing back a quiz from the week before saying “Girls rule”.That’s when I knew I wanted to start pursuing my Computer Science degree. My other favorite memory was attending the Grace Hopper Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I went with several other women in tech from NKU and loved getting to know them!

Advice for students

My best advice is to get to know your professors and fellow classmates. Without the relationships that I formed, I wouldn’t have known about most of the awesome opportunities I had. Also, always be willing to try new things. I strongly believe personal and professional growth only happens when you step outside of your comfort zone.

Why Computer Science?

I like that my major allows me to be an engineer, a builder, of data. I’ve always loved computers and had a subscription to PC World when I was young. That should’ve been a clue for my future career path, however this program will be my second undergraduate degree.

I love figuring out how things work. To get to build something, tinker around with it, and problem solve is fun for me. My Mom loves to tell stories about how when I was younger, she’d come home from work and need to figure out what I’d taken apart and put back together. I may or may not have ended up with an extra piece left over at times, but I  always fixed everything eventually!

Experimental Learning

This summer I accepted a position working with the NKU Ecological Stewardship Institute. As an ESI Scholar, I’ve been able to do independent research on the environmental impact of wireless networks, as well as how tech and green infrastructure can be merged to advance the quality of life in our communities, which has been fascinating.

Our long-term ESI group project is Strategic Depaving, which is the replacing of impervious surfaces with public greenspace. We’ve worked with community members in the directly-impacted area of Westside in Newport, KY, the Westside Citizens Coalition, and the city to get feedback on what they’d like to see in the proposed greenspace.

I’ve previously worked in community organizing and social justice campaigns, so being able to do research like this is a wonderful way to link my interests with our local communities through a technology centered lens.

Recommendation

I cannot stress enough the importance of utilizing campus tutoring, working with your class TA, and going to your professor’s office hours. It’s completely free, one-on-one learning. You’ll have a better understanding of class concepts because everyone learns differently. One explanation may make more sense than another.

Also, be kind to yourself. While this major might come naturally to some, don’t think you’re incapable of learning it if it doesn’t for you. CIT has challenged me in ways I didn’t think were possible. It’s complicated and difficult because, at times, it’s genuinely complicated and difficult. However, it’s also creative, wild, and incredible for how it all works together. As students, we can do fantastic things with what we’re learning, build whatever we want, and create magic every day.

After Graduation

Pursue a full-time position as a network engineer. Additionally, my research project has expanded my interest in making technology and research work to improve lives and infrastructure, so if I can explore that as well, that would be a bonus. Long term, I’d like to develop my own consulting business to work with non-profits and businesses that focus on progressive causes.

Responsibilities

I am a PhD graduate student in computer science at the University of Kentucky. My current role is a research assistant in the lab of my doctoral advisor, Dr. Hana Khamfroush. I essentially work on research under the direction of my doctoral advisor. That work consists of a large variety of tasks: writing papers, running experiments, designing new models/algorithms, implementing models and algorithms using code, data analysis, drafting grant proposals, etc.

Additionally, this summer I had the opportunity to lightly work alongside two undergraduate assistants who worked in our lab on two projects pertaining to research projects we have in the pipeline. I served in a leadership position ensuring they understood how to complete certain tasks, install the necessary software in compliance with our IT department, etc. Previously, I have served as a teaching assistant for two years. That role largely consisted of grading, holding office hours, meeting with students, teaching, and sometimes even designing the large projects students would have to work on.

Going Back to School

Through NKU, I was granted many opportunities to partake in undergraduate research and teaching. Starting my freshman year, I began working with Dr. Maureen Doyle, Dr. Kristi Haik, and Dr. Madhura Kulkarni on a transdisciplinary study of undergraduate retention. I stumbled upon the opportunity in a very organic way, with no idea of what to expect, but I loved the experience. Further, I got to present findings of our research in a poster presentation at the 2014 AAC&U conference in Atlanta, GA. That was life-changing.

Being able to speak with academics about something you committed so much time and energy to and be the expert on the material was gratifying and fulfilling. However, I think the thing that really made it click for me was falling in love with teaching. I served for three years as an academic tutor at Learning PLUS at NKU. Additionally, I was able to serve as a TA for several courses and a peer mentor for the Honors Program in 2015. All of those experiences really made it clear to me that my passion was in teaching.

I really enjoy the impact you can have on a student's life. And, even simpler than that, just that moment of when a concept finally makes sense to a student and you see that lightbulb go off is euphoric. With a love for both research and teaching, the obvious route was to pursue a PhD. Going into my undergraduate education, this was never the path I had imagined for myself. I'm relieved to say that I know I made the right choice and I have NKU to thank for that.

Why a Doctorate in Computer Science?

I am studying computer science. However, that's not super helpful because it's an increasingly overwhelming field in terms of size. More specifically, I study online social networks and interdependent systems — with emphasis on how machine learning can be applied to study problems in these domains. In the area of online social networks, I am heavily motivated in understanding how information spreads on these platforms.

I'm interested in studying how to maximize or minimize the spread of certain information in an algorithmic fashion. As for interdependent systems, I find the relationships between two (or more) seemingly unrelated systems (such as power grid networks and water filtration systems) interact with one another through ways of interdependency.

I spend a lot of time following what is being done in the realm of machine learning so that those findings can be incorporated to solve problems these domains. More broadly, I am largely attracted to anything that deals with graph theory in some way; it's one of my favorite areas of computer science.

Giving Back

I try to give back to NKU and the Northern Kentucky area as best as I can given the limited time that I have as a PhD student. While at NKU, I began to be a volunteer for the Kenton Informatics Academy program. Each fall and spring, I would serve as an advisor that gave feedback to students working on an informatics/computer science project for the first time. I have maintained my participation in that role. I have kept in contact with faculty members on-campus to help out in whatever way I can. Of course, I can always do more to give back and I look forward to doing so in the future.

Favorite NKU Memory

Honestly, it is very difficult for me to narrow it down to one single memory. I had the pleasure of having countless fond memories at NKU that I will carry with me forever. However, there is one moment that does stand out to me. My freshman year, I was honored to be selected to participate in the "Outstanding Freshman Projects" seminar series (forgive me if I have gotten the title wrong) for the year of 2014. Me and roughly ten other freshman Honors students would present their final projects from the Fall 2013 semester. My project was entitled, "The Link Between Resilience and Optimism" and it was a small study that correlated survey responses to index scores that measure resilience based on a well-studied test used by social scientists.

Overall, in reflection, I think the project was cool and had interesting results. But, my parents were both able to make it to the showcase to see me present. Not to brag too much about myself, but I did a pretty solid job presenting my project. My parents were floored with my presentation and were stunned to see me do so well in an academic setting. This meant the world to me simply because it was not until high school where I began to really do well academically, but my parents never got the opportunity to see me do well in school. They saw my grades, of course, but they never got the chance to see me do "my thing" and that was just a great opportunity for me. It is something that sticks with me forever now because my parents always remind me of what I am capable of when I'm feeling discouraged. All of that is because NKU provided accessible opportunities for them to see me in action.

Advice

This is going to sound incredibly generic, but enjoy your time in college. My time in graduate school has been thrilling. I now have two papers published, with more already prepared to be submitted for publication, and I'm getting closer to my dream profession of being a future faculty member. However, I will forever miss my time at NKU. I will miss all of my friends living right next to me (which is why I often refer to my college life as feeling "like a sitcom"). I will miss the faculty members that really took the time to get to know me; I still maintain strong relationships with several of them. I miss the freedom that came along with being a college student, in an environment where you can learn new things daily and engage with people of different backgrounds easily.

It is very difficult to replicate the college experience once you're graduated. So, please, take advantage of the opportunities NKU offers you. Go to the after-school dodgeball events, the student theatre productions, and anything else you think you might enjoy. There are a whole litany of pieces of advice I can provide. But, I think that undergraduate students (or at least some that I knew) get so caught up in a fantasy for life after college that they miss what's in front of them. Life after college can be great, but it's hard and probably not as romantic as it is in your head. So, just enjoy college and take advantage of this time because it's very possible you'll never be an environment quite like it again.

Why Computer Science?

            I chose to major in Computer Science because I have always had an interest in how computers are used to create things in various different fields to make advancements in society. It started as a kid through my interest in video games and science fiction but as I got older, it evolved into seeing how to computers were used in tons of different fields to turn the science fiction I always imagined into reality. I also like the challenge of trying to figure out how to write code to fix a certain problem and the sense of accomplishment that I receive when I actually solve the issue.

Experiential Learning

During my time at NKU so far, I have worked on two different research projects. The first project I worked on was with Dr. Wei Hao in a project that involved trying to figure the viability of Edge Computing, an IT architecture that allows for computation and data storage closer to the user rather than at a centralized data center. The second project I worked on was with Dr. Erin Strome in a project that involved trying to discover the role of two genes in the development of cancer through multiple different data analyses and computer programs. 

Recommendation

            My recommendation for incoming students at NKU is to first master your time management skills. If you can manage to prioritize the important things you need to do to succeed in college through good time management, you can make sure that your time is open to get help if you need it, get ahead rather than behind, and get out and experience college while you can. I also recommend to network with faculty and students so that you can possibly gain opportunities or knowledge that you may not have gained otherwise.

After Graduation Plans

            After graduation, I would like to do research in a field that combines the use of computers and something in the medical or biological field such as neuroscience. I want to do this because it can provide fulfilling work in a field that I have heavy interest in. I would also like to eventually be apart of an important development in my field or make an important contribution to the world so that I have something to be remembered for.

Responsibilities

My responsibilities in Digital Technology Leadership Program (DTLP) will be constantly changing. The program is designed for me to work in teams as a technical asset as well as develop my leadership and business skills along the way. For the next two years I will work with different teams all over the world where I will get to function in cybersecurity, software development, and project management! I am excited for what I will learn and that I get to start my career this way!

Giving Back

I love finding ways to share my passion for technology with others, I plan to take part in mentorship programs and be involved with any events meant to trigger younger peoples’ passion for tech. I’d like to also find ways that I can be helpful to the NKU Cybersecurity Club  NKCyber after I’ve graduated. 

Favorite NKU Memory

The first time I had the opportunity to be the team Captain for the NKU Cyber Defense team. We were a newer team and we weren’t even sure how we were going to even compete. When we found out that we won first place in the state of Kentucky, it was such a joyful experience.

Advice for Students

Work hard, strive to be one of the best, but remember to take time have some fun.

Why Computer Science?

Majors in the Computer Science Department are full of problem solving and challenges, something I knew I wanted in my major. Another drawing point is the wide array of industries that utilize Computer Science, which offers many paths to take post-graduation.  

Experimental Learning

I participated in an internship opportunity with Archer Daniels Midland’s Data and Analytics team where I worked to build a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators for the various teams in Data and Analytics. This gave me the chance to work on a team with people from different backgrounds, learn how to work with changing deliverables. I also was able to take part in Twitter Data Research with Dr. Marius Truta and Dr. Alina Campan. 

Recommendations

Get involved on campus in as many ways as possible. While course work is the extremely important, there are a lot of skills to be learned outside of the classroom as well. The soft skills I gained through on campus employment and leadership roles in organizations during my time in college have played key roles in allowing me to be successful in various professional opportunities.  Recommendations

After Graduation Plans

I plan to work full-time, and then also pursue a Master's degree.

Why Computer Science?

I like the feeling of when I am able to complete a difficult coding assignment. It gives me a rush. I also like the fact that my major is so versatile and that there are a lot of careers I can pursue.

Experimental Learning

I did a research project last summer on the "Internet of Things" with Dr. Hao. I am currently a camp leader in the CINSAM summer camp for 4th and 5th graders and also a peer coach at the College of Informatics Advising Center. I plan to do a co-op during the upcoming Fall/Spring semester with Promevo. All these experiences have made me feel more confident in myself and they have made me feel less symptoms of the infamous 'imposter syndrome'. Ultimately, I have met a lot of wonderful people who have made my stay at NKU a very successful one.

Recommendation

I would recommend that you join organizations so you can get to meet other students who have similar interests as you. I also would advise that you get to know your professors beyond the classroom. That could come in very handy when you need recommendation letters for internships, jobs or scholarships.

After Graduation

After graduation I plan to work full-time, and then also pursue a Master's degree.

Tobel Atnafu

Major: Computer Science

Minor: Mathematics

Graduation: May 2020

Why Computer Science?

I love that computer science has vast application and can be essential to other fields of study. Using my major, I can contribute to physics (as I did in my summer research) or health studies or finance or any other field I want. Having all these options means it will never get boring.

Experimental Learning

I have done work on research projects with faculty here on campus as well as attended multiple hackathons over the course of my college years. One of the research projects I have worked of is the ISS-CREAM (International Space Station – Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass) project. On this project, I worked on writing a C++ program that was used to basically clean up data that was received from the ISS. I also wrote several helper scripts in python and bash for the C++ program.

The hackathons I've attended have greatly impacted me in terms of changing my view on learning and shaping what I want to pursue as a career. I have attended different types of hackathons with different themes ranging from improving customer experience to data utilization. The biggest hackathon I have attended so far was GlobalHack VII. The theme of this hackathon was to make a product that improves the lives of foreign-born individuals. Inspired by NKU’s International Friendship Family Program, my team decided to make a web application that would connect migrants with volunteering individuals/families. Our project ended up coming in 2^nd place out of 40+ teams and my team won $10,000.

Recommendation

My top recommendation for other students in my major is to get involved in computer science related activities outside of the classroom. Doing research is one great way to learn a lot of new concepts and technologies that will be very valuable skills in the future.

Another way to get involved is to attend hackathons. Several universities around the area (and sometimes companies) host hackathons throughout the year and these are exciting events to be a part of. In addition to the technical skill you will gain working on a project for 24 hours, you will also gain valuable skills such as time management, ability to work in teams and problem-solving.

After Graduation

Click here to read about Tobel's 84.51° Hackathon experience.

Nathanael Long

Major: CIT

Why Computer Science?

My favorite thing about my majors is how small my classes are which allows me to interact with my professors and other students on a more personal level. I have had so many opportunities because of the connections I have made within both the College of Informatics and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Both of my majors also allow me to combine my personal interests with academic projects. Being in Data Science, we have a lot of freedom in the data sets we use which makes doing the work all that more enjoyable.

Experimental Learning

I have had two internships, one with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired and one with GE Aviation. My experiences were very different at each company, but both gave me exposure to
new technologies and showed me how the technologies I learned in class applied to the real world. Interning really increased my soft skills and gave me fantastic networking opportunities that lead to me receiving a job offer!

I also participated in several hackathons throughout my college career! I attended Data Fest at Miami University for the first-time last year and will be attending again this year! I also participated in the COMAP (Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications) Mathematical Modeling
Competition this past January. Hackathons give you the unique chance to work on a project from start to finish on an extremely sped up time frame. They are a great chance to learn new skills and boost your creativity!

Recommendation

I would encourage students to get to know their professors more! One of my favorite parts of my college experience has been getting to know my professors on a more personal level. I would also recommend that students take some time to explore topics in data science and math outside of the classroom. Both of these are huge subject areas, and it would be impossible to cover everything in your classes. Finally, I would suggest getting involved on campus! There are so many different clubs and organizations to choose from, and they will all give you a unique perspective and help build your resume!

After Graduation

I will be joining the Digital Technology Leadership Program at GE Aviation in Cincinnati! Here I will have the opportunity to do four six-month rotations, each in a different technical role.

Click here to view Alli's interactive Game of Graphics !

Responsibilities 

I am a Client Support Specialist I here at Northern Kentucky University. My main responsibility is to provide I.T. support for staff and faculty so that their work flow can progress, which ensures the success of our students.

As well as supporting staff and faculty, I am responsible for hardware repair, individual machine imaging, and lab imaging. I also oversee and guide students that have been hired on and that are assigned to my team.

Giving Back 

Considering I work here at Northern, I would say I give a decent amount of my time back to the university. I also try to impart some knowledge to the students that I work with here on campus.

Favorite NKU Memory

I think my best memories were the ones I got to create with my friends in between my classes here at NKU. Whether it was just hanging out in the Student Union, or a very hurried trip down to Newport for ice cream or grilled cheese. NKU really solidified several of the friendships that I have.

Advice for Students 

A motto I embrace is, “If it’s free, it’s for me.” Never pass up free food, you might even find something new that you like. Don’t pass up free items as well, you never know when that weird pen with the highlighter on the other end is going to come in handy. Keep and emergency snack somewhere, backpack, purse, car, doesn’t matter. It will come in handy when nothing else is open.  Also, go to class, you are only cheating yourself out of the knowledge that you are paying for. Talk to your professors, they are people too. Chances are they can help you beyond the topics happening in class. Lastly, make friends with people in majors other than your own. Different perspectives and knowledge bases will prove to be handy in a myriad of problems.

Responsibilities

I am a Senior Director at Kroger Corporate Headquarters in Cincinnati. My primary role is Privacy Officer and Chair of Data Sharing Governance for the Kroger enterprise.

Giving Back

I have been a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Informatics for the past 5 years. In that role, myself as well as other members from other Cincinnati/N. Kentucky organizations act as a sounding board for the Dean and provide input/feedback for new ideas and specific focus areas for the COI as well as help to make connections within the business community. I am currently on a task force with the COI as we look for innovative ways to increase COI enrollment and get prospective high school students interested in Informatics and NKU.  I have also participated in career fairs at NKU.

Favorite NKU Memory

Graduation of course! Students today cannot relate to this but I have many fond memories of going to the computer lab all hours of the day and night with fellow students working on our programming projects.

Advice

I would like current students to know they are in the age of data and innovation and that data drives many decisions in the business world.  The COI is a great opportunity to bring data together to get a 360  degree view of your business and to tell a story.  Businesses today rely on data and the insights from that data can transform their business.  Be part of the solution and use your major to make a difference!  I think the quote from Bill Gates sums it up nicely……“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other” (1999).

I am a Senior Software Engineer II at Xandr, an AT&T company, which is a platform for programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising, also referred to as Real Time Bidding (RTB), is akin to an auction where advertisers bid on the chance to show an ad to the user. This ad could be an empty spot on a web-page, an audio advertisement on your internet-radio, an ad that plays before your video, etc. Typically these auctions happen on demand (as the page loads) and complete in about a tenth of a second.

I work on the Supply & Demand team which has the mandate to support our supply-side integrations (providing our platform with additional publisher inventory), such as Google's Authorized Buyers platform, and to support 3rd party bidders that participate in the auctions on our platform. I am primarily responsible for our supply-side integration with Google which involves building and maintaining a couple of different applications written in C and C++ and participate as a bidder on their platform. I also assist in other strategic areas to accelerate initial development or provide support on difficult bugs. This includes our internal tooling we build for our support team to troubleshoot integration, a new UI for our bidder clients, and providing a set of reusable components for building micro-services.

Giving Back

I have focused on giving back to my work community by leading training sessions and encouraging practices such as "lunch and learns" and "mob-programming sessions." I have recently started to build out cpp-vs.com as a way to contribute outside of my work environment. In the future I would like to focus more on contributing to the development community and to NKU.

Favorite NKU Memory

I don't know if there is a single memory that stands out above the rest, but I can say that working with the other students at CAI was fantastic. Being able to "nerd-out" over similar interests, work on fun projects, and play Minecraft on our shared server really made NKU feel like somewhere I belonged.

Advice for Students

The most valuable skill you can master is how to learn. Learning doesn't stop after college and isn't something that only continues in post-grad. In the course of my career the ability to learn, and do so quickly, has been essential.