Student Awards
Galileo Circle Scholars, the University of Arizona's finest undergraduate and graduate science students, represent the tremendous breadth of research interests in the College of Science
Galileo Circle Scholar: Adi Banerjee
Adi Banerjee is a junior pursuing a BS degree in Computer Science with a minor in Statistics and Data Science. Adi was raised in Mumbai, India, but chose to attend the University of Arizona because of the university's generous financial aid and Arizona's potential as a tech hub. He enjoys using math to solve real world problems in creative ways, and his interest in CS largely stems from that fascination with math. Adi especially enjoys working on graph problems.
Adi has attempted to create a stronger sense of community in the computer science department through the UA Google Developer Student Club (Google DSC); which he founded last year. Google DSC holds networking events and workshops to provide students with easy access to industry standard tools and resources. Adi also helped connect students to the Tech Core internship -to get real world experience and potentially connect with Eller students with cool business ideas.
Adi has worked as an undergraduate researcher on ToMCAT at IVILAB since Fall 2019 with the goal to develop a socially aware AI agent. Much of his work in the project has been the development of data collection frameworks and a proprietary procedural generator. Adi also worked as the lead full stack developer at Tech Core where he primarily builds web apps in .NET, Node in TypeScript, and SQL. He also had the opportunity to work on a few XR apps for the Microsoft Hololens.
This summer Adi will be interning with Amazon in Seattle. His career goal is to work within the industry for 2-3 years post-graduation and then pursue a PhD in Computer Science - likely specializing in algorithms or machine learning. Adi would like to recognize Dr. Adarsh Pyarelal, Dr. Kobus Barnard, and Arthur Jordan for being amazing mentors. He would also like to recognize everyone at Eller Tech Core for being the most amazing people to work with.
In his free time, Adi enjoys going on road trips and exploring new places with friends. He has recently taken an interest in learning more about investing and circuit design.
Galileo Circle Scholar: Nimet (Beyza) Bozdag
Beyza Bozdag is a sophomore pursuing a BS degree with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics. Beyza is an international student from Turkey. Beyza chose to major in CS because she really wanted to be involved in building the future in this digital age and CS really aligned with her interests and strengths. Beyza came to the University of Arizona because she wanted to get a quality education in her field. UA's scholarship opportunities for international students made it possible for Beyza to come to US and follow her dreams.
Beyza has been a teaching assistant since Fall 2021. She started working as the Course Coordinator for CSC 144 this spring. She is a CS ambassador and is the Co-President of Women in Information Science (WICS) Club and the Vice Lead of UA Google Developer Student Club.
In her free time, Beyza enjoys painting and photography, and has recently shown in interest for video editing. She also likes to spend time with family and friends, enjoys traveling and seeing new places, and tasting new foods. Beyza has been an intern at Tech Core (summer 2021) and has gotten involved with two research projects on campus. Her career goal is to be able to start her own company on building AI technology.
Galileo Circle Scholar and Outstanding Undergraduate Service: Caroline Hyland
Caroline Hyland is a junior pursuing dual degrees in Computer Science (BS) and Spanish (BA) with minors in World Literature and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Caroline is from Phoenix, Arizona and she chose computer science late in her high school career, in large part because of a mandatory computer science class she took as a sophomore in high school. Caroline never expected to like the course, let alone love it, but, to her surprise, it quickly became one of her favorite classes. After that, she took all the high school CS electives offered and ultimately decided to pursue computer science in college. In terms of choosing a university, Caroline spent a long time making her decision. Caroline ultimately decided to stay in Arizona because of a scholarship she received for the in-state public universities. Once she decided to stay in Arizona, she knew U of A was the right fit for her because of her love for the campus and the sense of community she felt here. (Caroline is also a third generation U of A Wildcat, after all!)
Caroline loves the U of A, and she has been lucky enough to have the opportunity to share her experiences with prospective students to give them a sense of the experiences that could be waiting for them at U of A. To that end, she is very happy to be a member of three ambassador organizations on campus: Arizona Ambassadors, College of Science Ambassadors, and Computer Science Ambassadors. In the CS department, Caroline has also enjoyed the opportunity to be an Undergraduate TA since the summer after her freshman year. She has been a TA for CSC 245 four times now, and she started this semester as the course coordinator for CSC 144. Caroline really enjoyed being course coordinator, but during the semester a staffing change in the department resulted in her moving to be the TA for CSC 473, which has been a really fun and exciting transition. This year, she was also able to serve as the undergraduate representative on the department head search committee, which has been a very interesting new experience.
Caroline's school obligations keep her quite busy, but, in her free time she loves to read books and spend time with her friends and sorority sisters in Phi Sigma Rho. She also loves to travel and explore any time she has the opportunity. Last summer, Caroline had the opportunity to work as a software engineering intern for Honeywell. She has also had the opportunity to participate in research on campus during her junior year. She has been working with Dr. John Kececioglu this semester.
Caroline is still not exactly sure what her career goals are right now. She is currently very interested in computer science theory, and is considering pursuing a graduate degree to specialize in that field before moving into industry or teaching. Caroline would like to give a big shoutout to Dr. David Lowenthal, Dr. Lester McCann, Dr. Eric Anson, Dr. John Kececioglu, and Martin Marquez!
Galileo Circle Scholar: Shahnawaz Mogal
Shahnawaz Mogal is a sophomore pursuing a BS in Computer Science. He is Indian and was born and raised in Bahrain, an island in the Middle East. He chose the U of A because of the excellent research opportunities available across campus. Shahnawaz chose CS because he would like to be able to use his skills to work on products or projects that combine the power of computation with concepts that aren't usually associated with CS.
Shahnawaz is currently working with Dr. Gus Hahn-Powell from the UA Linguistics Department on a natural language processing research project related to authorship detection. He worked as a software engineer intern for UA's team that leads the OSIRIS-Rex Space Mission in summer 2021. He got to work with software engineers and contribute code to a project related to the mission.
Shahnawaz hopes, at some point in his career, to work on applying CS to social issues like financial illiteracy and food inequities. Shahnawaz would like to give a big shout out to Tyler Conklin, for being an amazing professor!
In his free time, Shahnawaz loves hiking and camping, cooking food, soccer with friends, listening to hip-hop music, watching Formula 1 and growing plants. He also enjoys meeting people and understanding more about culture and art.
Galileo Circle Scholar: Rohini Saran
Rohini Saran is a junior pursuing a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Economics. Rohini is an international undergraduate student from Delhi, India and chose the U of A because she loved the campus. When Rohini was applying for college, she had no idea what she wanted to do, so she chose CS because it kept the most number of doors open. Luckily, Rohini ended up enjoying and loving the subject!
Rohini has worked as a Writing Tutor at THINK TANK Writing Center for three semesters. She was also a CS UGTA for CSC 245 in Fall 2021 and is currently the Instructional Manager for an economics course .
As a part of an independent study with Dr. Victor Braitberg in Spring 2021, she was a student consultant for a CUES funded project on Socially Aware Quantitative Intuition. Her career goal is to obtain a career that challenges her and allows for personal growth. Rohini would like to recognize Arthur Jordan, the CS department's Coordinator of Career Development. He is always reachable, accommodating, and ready to help. She would also like to acknowledge Ash Reed and Caroline Hyland, who helped her immensely when she worked as a CSC 245 UGTA.
In her free time, Rohini loves to read!
Galileo Circle Scholar: Kiana Thatcher
Kiana Thatcher is a senior pursuing a BS degree with majors in Mathematics and Computer Science. Kiana was born in Tucson and raised in South Carolina. She chose the University of Arizona because she thought it would be a great fit. Kiana wanted to go outside South Carolina and the University of Arizona hit all the marks: large school in a warm area, very strong in research, and a highly ranked College of Science. Kiana was not originally interested in computer science. She was originally planning on majoring in math only. After reading a book about Python, a programming language, she saw the relevance. Kiana is interested in data science and how programming can be applied to data science.
Kiana is currently conducting research in data visualization with CS faculty member Dr. Stephen Kobourov . She is the treasurer of the RiskRunners, an actuarial club at the University of Arizona.
She will be a full stack developer intern at Credit One Bank during this summer (2022). At the moment, Kiana does not have any specific career goals. She just wants to combine her skills in math and computer science to create an impact on society. Kiana would like to acknowledge Dr. Stephen Kobourov, for supporting her in her research experience!
Outside of school, Kiana likes to hike and workout.
Galileo Circle Scholar: Paulo Soares
Paulo Soares is a 3rd year grad student pursuing a PhD in Computer Science with a minor in Cognitive Science. Paulo is from Olinda, a coastal city in Brazil. He chose UA because of the solid research program in machine learning and the mission to promote diversity, which he considered essential as an international student. Selecting the CS department was a natural choice for him because his advisor, Dr. Kobus Barnard, does research in the area he was interested in at the time of the application. Paulo received his BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil. As an undergrad, he served as TA for three years and worked as a volunteer teaching basic informatics in a low-income community. After he got his master's degree, Paulo worked as a software engineer for an oil & gas company in Brazil until he decided to chase his dreams of working with applied machine learning research.
In his first semester at the U of A, Paulo worked as a TA. He was determined to encourage students to reach their full potential and hopes he has accomplished that to some extent. Jointly with other outstanding CS and social science students, Paulo is currently helping with the equipment and procedure setup in a lab in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. This work will enable them to perform cognitive-driven experiments that Paulo believes will positively impact future generations of students.
Paulo's research work is multidisciplinary and involves collaboration with different departments (e.g., School of Information and School of Family and Consumer Sciences). He has been working under the guidance of Dr. Kobus Barnard in the IVILAB on a project to understand human behavior, beliefs, emotions, and desires (theory of mind) by deploying explainable machine learning models. In the past, during his studies for his master's degree, he has also worked with machine learning to study the evolutionary dynamics of social networks.
Paulo will have his first US internship experience this summer (2022). He will be working with machine learning models for digital advertising based on consumer behavior. Paulo's career goal is to perform cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and develop solutions for real-world, large-scale problems. Paulo would like to acknowledge his parents. Without their effort and understanding of the importance of education, none of this would be possible. He would also like to thank his master's advisor, Dr. Ricardo Prudêncio, and the UA faculty members, Dr. Kobus Barnard, Dr. Emily Butler, Dr. Mary Peterson, and Dr. Adarsh Pyarelal, for recognizing his potential. Finally, for encouraging him throughout this endeavor, Paulo would like to thank Sean and family, Nancy and Charlie.
In his free time, Paulo enjoys playing strategy board games (e.g., The Settlers of Catan), traveling, learning new languages, cooking, and outdoor activities.
Galileo Circle Scholar: Ariyan Zarei
Ariyan Zarei is a 4th year grad student pursing a PhD in Computer Science with a minor in Information. Ariyan is originally from Karaj, Iran and received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Shahid Beheshti University (formerly known as National University of Iran). Since he was young child, Ariyan was amazed by and wanted to learn more about the world behind the computer. Ariyan took his first programming course when he was 11 years old -leading to an interest in programming and algorithms. Ariyan's curiosity and enthusiasm with computers brought him one step closer to where he is today. He chose the University of Arizona to work with his amazing supervisor, Prof. Kobus Barnard and all the great faculty, students, and fellow researchers in the Department of Computer Science.
Ariyan was a former member of the Iranian Students Cultural Association in Tucson (ICAT) for two years and currently is the president of this club. Ariyan will be doing an internship at Meta (Facebook) this summer as a Machine Learning Software Engineer. He also did an internship at NP Photonics where he mostly did network administration and software development.
Ariyan's career goal is to work in big tech companies and in parallel run his own business in the field of applications of computer vision. He would like to acknowledge his supervisor Prof. Kobus Barnard and would also like to give his sincere thanks to Dr. Eric Lyons who always supported him.
In his free time, Ariyan enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and fishing and he also plays soccer and exercises often.
Excellence in Undergraduate Research: Alec Scott
Alec Scott is a senior pursuing a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. Alec grew up mostly in Flagstaff, AZ but both his parents are field botanists so he spent a number of years growing up in Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador while on research trips. Alec knew a couple of people who'd gotten their PhD degree at UA and spoke well of the Department of Computer Science and the opportunities to get involved in undergraduate research. The opportunities to get involved in research and receiving UA scholarships, made UA a compelling choice.
Alec knew what he wanted to do from a very young age. He initially got into CS by playing video games on his parents' desktop. That led him down the rabbit hole - saving up for his own laptop, getting involved in the Linux community, and learning to write bash scripts. In high school, Alec's mom began using her university's supercomputer to analyze segments of DNA, and because he already knew how to use Linux, she asked if he would help her learn to program on these massive clusters of computers. Alec participated in 1-2 lessons from the High Performance Computing Team at NAU before he was completely in love with programming and spent most of his weekends (and weeknights when he probably should have been doing homework) writing and learning to optimize programs.
During the spring semester of his first year Alec started an internship with UA's High Performance Computing Group. As part of that experience, Alec helped graduate students get going on UA's supercomputers, debugged an issue where the job scheduler was over-scheduling computing resources, and wrote an application to query system logs so that the team could gain insight to how many people were actively running jobs on the clusters. As his internship and that semester came to a close, the Assistant Director for Research Computing at UITS offered him a position as a student employee at UITS to continue building tools for researchers and the HPC Team. While working for the HPC Team Alec developed a tool (lookout) to help notify administrators of available software updates before researchers sent angry emails asking why a piece of software was more than 2 years out of date.
After lookout, Alec also worked on a semi-autonomous build system for scientific containers that aims to help make collaboration easier between universities and improve scientific reproducibility. In the summer of 2021, Alec left UITS to accept an internship with Lawrence Livermore National Lab as part of the Department of Energy Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships program. Upon returning to UA this past fall he started working with Dr. Kate Isaacs as part of a collaborative study with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to investigate software ecosystems and how applications with hundreds of dependencies change over time.
Ultimately, over the course of Alec's career, he would like to help write software that makes it possible for scientists to keep asking the big questions that are pushing our understanding of the universe. As part of this goal, Alec has accepted an offer to join Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after UA where he will be joining scientists who are working to create sustainable energy through nuclear fusion. Alec would like to recognize Dr. Kate Isaacs for always taking the time to answer his (sometimes goofy) questions on data visualization and distributed computing.
In his free time, Alec enjoys reading books, going for hikes, traveling, and playing board games with friends.
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching: Samantha Mathis
Samantha Mathis is a senior pursuing a BS in Computer Science and a BA in French with an emphasis in Language, Literature and Culture and a minor in Information, Science, Technology, and the Arts. Samantha is a 5th generation Tucsonan and has grown up around the campus and knew she wanted to go to school here. She switched majors to CS from Chemistry after her first year and has enjoyed and learned so much ever since.
Samantha began working with the CS department when she applied to be a TA and a CS Ambassador. After one semester of TAing for CSC 120, she was moved to be the Course Coordinator In Training position for one semester before she became the Course Coordinator for CSC 110 (Spring 2021). As a CS Ambassador, Samantha has participated in events at schools; teaching children about the computer science major and even creating a low-level, computer science themed virtual escape room. She was a student developer for Center of Digital Humanities working on websites for the Arizona State Museum. In that role, Samantha got the opportunity to use the 3D scanner to scan ancient pots in order to make an interactive website and virtual exhibit. She is the treasurer for the UA Disney Club - a club that hosts fun activities including trivia, movie premieres and pin trading. This semester they even planned and went on a group trip (33 members) to Disneyland over spring break!
In her free time, Samantha enjoys reading. She studied abroad in France (Summer 2021) where she spent 6 weeks with a host family in Aix-en-Provence while taking classes and exploring the culture. Samantha will start Raytheon after graduation as a Software Developer. There have been a lot of people who have helped her along the way - Sam would like to recognize Ben Dicken and Russ Lewis for their support and helping her grow from TA to Course Coordinator.
Outstanding Graduating Senior (Spring 2022): Naomi Nguyen
Naomi Nguyen is a senior pursuing a BA in Computer Science and a BS in Mathematics. Naomi was born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam and chose the University of Arizona because of the generous scholarship offer she received. Naomi chose computer science because she enjoyed solving math problems and wanted to apply her math skills to the technology field. She was uncertain about her decision at first because of her limited exposure to computer science before college. However, after the first semester, Naomi knew it was the right choice. In her first semester, she had CSC 110 with professor Ben Dicken. Throughout CSC 110, Naomi enjoyed the frustration when she had to spend hours debugging and the excitement when she realized the logic behind a problem, which was similar to her experience with math. Naomi also participated in a variety of events offered by the Department of Computer Science such as the Women's Hackathon and the Game Development Camp, which introduced her to the problems and opportunities within computer science!
Naomi was a volunteer at HackArizona 2020, managing the logistics for the event. She was later invited to join the Board of Directors for HackArizona 2021, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Naomi is currently the treasurer of MathCats, UA's math club. She manages the logistics for the club's weekly meetings and also supported MathCats' participation in local elementary schools' science fairs.
Naomi has been a research assistant/student worker at the Steward Observatory's Solar Lab where she implements programs to increase efficiency for the production process, create user friendly interfaces for custom lab tools, and lead the lab's outreach projects.Naomi was part of a leadership team for the Steward Observatory Solar Lab's outreach science program. During that experience, Naomi participated in outreach at a local elementary school in Tucson where she coordinated with the teacher and arranged the weekly lessons with the lab members. Naomi prepared experiment kits so that each elementary student could participate hands-on while joining virtual, remote lessons about science.
Through UofA TIMESTEP's summer internship program, Naomi became an intern at a local startup (Lunewave). She was also a research computing facilitator for UofA UITS, performing data analysis and data cleaning to coordinate High-Performing Computing system usage among users. Naomi will be a software engineer intern at Oracle in Redwood City, CA this summer (2022)
Naomi is in the UA Accelerated Master's Program (AMP) pursuing an MS in Statistics and Data Science. After completing her undergraduate work, Naomi will continue her graduate education in order to complete the MS program. Naomi would like to eventually become a software engineer in industry. She hopes to continue giving back to the community by helping children get access to STEM education.
Naomi is grateful for all of her mentors in the Department of Computer Science. Specifically, she would like to acknowledge Dr. Jonathan Misurda for sharing his passion in education, and helping her navigate being a CS student. She also wants to recognize Ben Dicken and Arthur Jordan for their support and guidance. Most of all, Naomi is grateful for the Solar Lab, where she got to develop her skills and, as Naomi noted, consists of the "greatest people who have always been supporting me through my time at the University of Arizona".
Naomi enjoys learning how to cook Vietnamese dishes and sharing them with her friends. Her favorite dish to make is Bun Bo Hue. She also loves to play social deduction games such as Among Us, Town of Salem, Coup, Avalon, etc; though, Naomi admits, she "is quite bad at them". Additionally, Naomi is a fan of the U oF A softball team and enjoys attending games whenever she can.
Outstanding Graduating Senior (Fall 2021): Amy Paul
Amy Paul graduated Fall 2021 and is now a 1st year grad student pursuing the MS in Computer Science. Amy is originally from Illinois, and she initially chose the UA because of the weather and because she knew Tucson well from visiting family here for years. She would be remiss if she pretended like the generous scholarship money wasn't part of the reason, though.
Due to Covid, Amy wasn't able to be as involved in the department and university as she would have liked during her undergrad. She plans to change that during her remaining time in the department. To that end, Amy is getting involved in a big way - she will be the incoming president of the CS Graduate Student Council! As part of her role, Amy plans on bringing back in-person events and helping build community in the department before she finishes the MS program.
Amy has had several internships so far. She worked as a web applications software developer for about a year and a half, she was a department TA for Spring 2021, and she was a cybersecurity researcher for the PACT program also in Spring 2021. Amy will also be working at an internship with Amazon this summer (2022).
Amy's career goal is to be able to work in industry, perhaps eventually leading a development team. She is hoping to find more puzzle-oriented jobs than just software development, noting "we'll see what happens"! Amy would like to recognize her partner, who always keeps her sane and reminds her that there's more in life than just schoolwork.
In her free time, Amy enjoys reading, playing video games, spending time with friends and family, and writing several television scripts that will definitely someday get off the ground.
Outstanding Graduate Scholarship: Spencer Krieger
Spencer Krieger is a 6th year grad student pursuing a PhD in Computer Science. Spencer grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and he came to UA because of the excellent bioinformatics research done by Dr. John Kececioglu. Spencer received a BS in Biochemistry, but switched to computer science when he realized he did not like doing wet lab work and would rather devise new algorithms for bioinformatics.
During his time as a graduate student, Spencer has been the vice president of the CS Graduate Student Council, served as the graduate student representative on the Graduate Affairs Committee, and served as the graduate liaison for the Faculty Recruiting Committee.
Spencer published a paper in a top conference in his field on pathway inference in cell-signaling and metabolic networks using hypergraphs, which are the best model for cell-signaling and metabolic pathways, but are rarely used, due to their computational complexity. His career goal is to have his own research lab at a research university. Spencer would like to give a special thanks to his research advisor, Dr. John Kececioglu, for helping him achieve his research goals.
In his free time, Spencer likes to play any and all racquet sports. He has played intramural racquetball, he plays pickleball and squash weekly, and occasionally plays tennis when the weather is cooler. He also owns over 250 board games, and plays 650 board games on average each year!
Outstanding Graduate Teaching: Mohammed Ashiqur (Ashiq) Rahman
Ashiq Rahman is an outgoing PhD Candidate (defended dissertation) in Computer Science. He was born and raised in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The University of Arizona was his first choice for its outstanding graduate research and the not-so-cold weather of Arizona! Pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science stems from his utmost curiosity in computing systems, the underlying theories, and a drive towards analysis and critical thinking. He has also earned his Master of Science (MS) from the department (spring 2020). Before that, Ashiq completed his undergrad in 2015 with a Computer Science and Engineering major at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh.
During his time in the in the Department of Compute Science, Ashiq has served as a CS teaching assistant and course instructor. To date, he has been a TA a total of nine semesters, and has been a summer instructor twice (summer 2020 & '21).
Ashiq's research experience includes analyzing internet architecture, information-centric networking, and protocol design in wireless networks, which is a significant part of his dissertation. Ashiq has worked as a research assistant in the Network Research Lab during summer 2017, '18, and '19. He also has experience designing and optimizing scheduling algorithms for vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, which was part of his undergraduate thesis. Ashiq is highly interested in systems research and development and how it contributes to society by solving problems that affect our daily lives.
Ashiq would like to sincerely thank his Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Beichuan Zhang, for providing him with his guidance over the last six years. It has been his pleasure working with him, and he has learned a lot from him in both academic and personal life.
In his free time, Ashiq likes collecting movies and sightseeing, exploring new places, and taking many pictures with his wife. He also likes driving a lot!
Outstanding Graduate Service: Connor Scully-Allison
Connor Scully-Allison is a 3rd year grad student pursuing a PhD in Computer Science. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2012 with a Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy. Seeking to learn a practical skill with good job opportunities, he returned to school in 2013 to begin studying computer science; first for a minor and then as a Master's student. Having found himself enjoying computer science and academia he applied to the University of Arizona to work with Dr. Kate Isaacs.
Connor has served for three years as a member of the Computer Science Graduate Student Council, initially as a first rear PhD representative and then subsequently as President for two years. Related to this role, he has been honored to spend the last year serving on the Department Head Search Committee as the Graduate Student Representative. Connor has been actively participating in the hiring of other new faculty by acting as the graduate student coordinator for prospective faculty interviews with graduate students. Connor has aided the department in graduate student recruitment by helping to plan and execute grad student visits. Outside of the department, he has volunteered at the Campus Pantry and participated in mutual aid organizations in Reno.
For his Masters, Connor worked as a Graduate Research Assistant for 2 years studying software engineering for scientific applications. Since 2019, he has been a Research Assistant working in the HDC lab on information visualization for HPC applications.
Connor has interned for the past two years (and will do so again this year) with the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at Lawerence Livermore National Lab developing visualizations for the Hatchet project.
Connor's career goal is to stay in academia and find work as tenure track research faculty at a R1 research institution with the ultimate goal of working his way into the administrative side of academia. Connor would like to acknowledge his advisor, Dr. Kate Isaacs, who has been an incredible friend and mentor for him these last three years. He would not be receiving this award if not for her encouragement that he participate in volunteerism both within and outside of the department.
In his free time, Connor enjoys digital art primarily. He specifically loves character design and figure drawing. He is attempting to learn digital painting right now.
Staff Award
Arthur Jordan
Arthur Jordan graduated from the UA in 2016- earning a BS in Computer Science. He joined the department as an advisor in January 2017. Since that time, Arthur has taken on the role of Coordinator of Career Development. Arthur is also enrolled in graduate coursework and is pursuing a Master's in Data Science.
In his role, Arthur meets with prospective, current, and graduated students to discuss career goals and plans, reviews and provides feedback on student résumés and CVs, hosts workshops, coordinates Breakfast Bytes, manages the IdeaLab, sponsors the Google Developer Student Club, leads the CS Ambassadors, and coordinates the CS Career Fair (and does so much more than this list!). Arthur is a valuable member of the CS department and his contributions have made a great impact on the Computer Science student experience!
Faculty Awards
Faculty Teaching Award: Rick Snodgrass
Rick Snodgrass is a professor at the University of Arizona's Computer Science Department. His interests are in science of computing, temporal databases, data semantics, query languages and database management systems.
Rick was recognized with the teaching award because of his longstanding and positive impact on CS students and the department.
Rick is retiring after this spring semester. He plans to take some time to travel and do lots of scuba diving.
See what Rick's colleagues and students said about him by visiting the Congratulations Rick Snodgrass padlet.
Faculty Research Award: Kate Isaacs
Kate Isaacs is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and a member of the Humans, Data, and Computers Lab (HDC). Her interests are at the intersection of data visualization and computing systems. Kate develops new methods of representing complex computing processes for exploration and analysis of their behavior, with applications to high performance computing, distributed computing, data science, program analysis, and optimization.
Faculty Service Awards: Lester McCann
Lester McCann is a principal lecturer at the University of Arizona's Computer Science Department. His interests are in computer science education and database management systems.
Galileo Circle Fellow
Individuals that have a deep understanding of a broad range of science, a willingness to think in a truly interdisciplinary way, and an ability to inspire colleagues and students alike.
Galileo Circle Fellow: Stephen Kobourov
Stephen Kobourov is a professor at the University of Arizona's Computer Science Department. His interests are in graph drawing and information visualization, algorithm design and data organization and geometric algorithms.
Stephen was recognized with this award because of his sustained outstanding contributions to data visualizations and algorithms. In addition, he continues to be committed in mentoring students through his research projects. He has scored many undergraduate students, who then go to graduate school and are themselves now faculty.
Galileo Circle Curie Award
This award is given to junior faculty whose innovative work not only advances science, but also adds to the diversity within the scientific community.
Galileo Circle Curie Award: Kate Isaacs
Kate Isaacs is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and a member of the Humans, Data, and Computers Lab (HDC). Her interests are at the intersection of data visualization and computing systems. Kate develops new methods of representing complex computing processes for exploration and analysis of their behavior, with applications to high performance computing, distributed computing, data science, program analysis, and optimization.
Kate was recognized with this award for her consistent excellent work! She has received several prestigious grants due to her work and she is just a budding superstar!
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Awards
Award to recognize Individuals that have provided outstanding service to the department towards DEI initiatives.
Student DEI Award: Brandon Neth
Brandon Neth is a 2nd year grad student pursuing a PhD in Computer Science with a minor in Sociology. He moved to Tucson for undergrad after growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio. He studied Computer Science, Mathematics, and Anthropology in undergrad, and while it was the coding the got him into the department, it was the culture that made him stay.
Within the department, Brandon has served as the Vice President and now the DEI rep of the CS Graduate Student Council. At the university level, he is an at-large representative in the Graduate and Professional Student Council, where they advocate for student needs. In that same vein of meeting students' needs, he works with the UofA Campus Pantry and Tucson Food Share in the community to help address food insecurity in Tucson.
In his free time, Brandon enjoys gardening, yoga, reading and playing Magic the Gathering. Brandon's career goal is to obtain a research position in a national lab or in industry. He would like to thank Prof. Michelle Strout for being an understanding and encouraging mentor the past 5 years, and to Prof. Josh Levine for his commitment to improving the experience of the department for all students.
Faculty DEI Award: Jason Pacheco
Jason Pacheco is an Assistant professor at the University of Arizona's Computer Science Department. His interests are in statistical machine learning, probabilistic graphical models, approximate inference algorithms and information-theoretic decision making.
Faculty DEI Award: Kate Isaacs
Kate Isaacs is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and a member of the Humans, Data, and Computers Lab (HDC). Her interests are at the intersection of data visualization and computing systems. Kate develops new methods of representing complex computing processes for exploration and analysis of their behavior, with applications to high performance computing, distributed computing, data science, program analysis, and optimization.