Summer Research Program Lunch and Learn

Networking 101

Networking is an important skill. This session addresses the skills that are needed for networking, a very important component of your professional life. The topics include strategies for finding a community, meeting people in the field, and promoting your research and yourself: the elevator pitch. This session will also address what you should prepare for, learn, and what to do when you attend conferences, workshops, or any technical meeting, including meeting researchers visiting your department.

Colleen Lewis

Colleen Lewis is an Associate Professor of computer science (CS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lewis was previously the McGregor-Girand Associate Professor of CS at  Harvey Mudd College. At the University of California, Berkeley, Lewis completed a PhD in science and mathematics education, an MS in computer science, and a BS in electrical engineering and computer science. Her research seeks to identify and remove barriers to CS learning and understand and optimize CS learning. Lewis curates CSTeachingTips.org, a NSF-sponsored project for disseminating effective CS teaching practices. Lewis has received the NSF CAREER Award, the NCWIT.org Undergraduate Mentoring Award and the AnitaB.org Emerging Leader Award for her efforts to broaden participation in computing.  

Yael Gertner

I received my BS and MEng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT (1997), with a masters thesis under the direction of Shafi Goldwasser in Cryptography. I received my PhD in Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania (2003) under the direction of Sampath Kannan in the area of Cryptography. I then did postdoctoral training with Cynthia Fisher in Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2003-2006) and was a Beckman Fellow from 2006 to 2009. I joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a Teaching Assistant Professor in 2020. Since its inception, I have been developing materials and teaching for the iCAN program , a new graduate certificate program for broadening participation in Computer Science. My research focuses on computer science education, designing tools and interventions for theory of computer science courses, and designing curricula and programs for K-12 students with the goal of broadening participation in computing. 

Fernando Granha Jeronimo

My research is in theoretical computer science (TCS), mainly involving:

• Coding Theory
• Expanders and High-dimensional Expanders
• Optimization, such as the Sum-of-Squares hierarchy
• Quantum Computing

Interactions among these areas are very present in my research. In particular, I love expansion (broadly defined) since it provides an amazing lens to explore and understand phenomena in all the above areas. I am also particularly intrigued by the many connections between CS theory and mathematics. Glimpses on some of my interests in coding theory and expanders can be found in short talks at IAS here and here.

I am looking to continuously grow my research group over the years. Motivated students are encouraged to apply to our graduate programs.

Seminar Recording