Department Spotlights

For junior computer science major Justin Deutsch, he is both excited and nervous about the annual fall career fair moving online. "I don't really know what to expect. I guess it is just acceptable to have your bed in your zoom background as long as it is made these days." Deutsch is among the more than 600 students planning to attend the all-virtual CS|Source fall career fair which kicks off this Sunday, September 13, with seven companies offering information sessions from 10 am to 5 pm.

“This group will add energy and new ideas to continue to grow and improve our teaching and research missions,” said Cal Ribbens, computer science department head. “With great support from the College of Engineering, this year is the first of what we expect to be several years of significant growth in our faculty.”

Congratulations to our three computer science faculty members Kirk Cameron, Margaret Ellis, and Tanushree Mita, honored for their excellence by the College of Engineering for the 2020 Dean's Awards. They were recognized at the Department of Computer Science virtual awards banquet, along with other outstanding recognition of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Department Head Cal Ribbens hosted the first Department of Computer Science Virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, May 26. He was joined by Assistant Department Heads Steve Edwards and Cliff Shaffer for updates on how the department is responding to COVID-19. Also, PhD student, Sathappan Muthiah in the Discovery Analytics Center shared about his COVID-19 research! A Q&A session concluded the town hall.

As a first-year Ph.D. computer science student, Kobla Setor Zilevu has some guiding words to offer fellow incoming graduate students. "The best piece of advice I can offer entering graduate students will be to enjoy the process and love what you are researching."

Peraton recruits Virginia Tech students through the CS|Source career fairs and also enjoys engaging with students throughout the semester. Having an office in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center means they are close and leverage its proximity to be engaged members of the CS@VT community.

Calixte is the first recipient of the department's 2020 Distinguished Early Career Alumni Award. This distinction is conferred to an alumni whose degree was awarded within the past 15 years and who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in the computing field in his career whether industry, government, or academia.

Our computer science faculty and graduate students are putting forth their expertise in cloud computing, modeling predictions, software design, and data analytics toward COVID-19 research grants and other opportunities.

“The true appeal of our computer science program does not lie with the degree itself or its academic prestige,” said Meno, reflecting on her time thus far at the university. “At Virginia Tech, each student is given the opportunity to choose their own journey. I am blessed to be a part of a program that challenges and fascinates me constantly.”

"I've never had a chance to work on something so real like this," shared Virginia Tech computer science junior Austin Stout, on his role in the development of the trackcorona.live website.

Sam Imamov, a senior majoring in computer science and a minoring in music technology, served as team lead for the Hokienauts, also known as the space turkeys of Virginia Tech, who for the second year were finalists in the 2020 NASA (Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students) SUITS Challenge.

According to RGI, Virginia Tech students are strong in both theory and practice when it comes to their technical skills, and they have great soft skills (listening, communication, etc.). They attend the career fair each year because the interns, co-ops, and full time students they hire from Virginia Tech are strong developers and good fits for their company.

For Chapman Pendery, a junior majoring in computer science, life is a series of questions to be answered. Chapman admits that nothing makes him happier than “the opportunity to have a new problem placed in front of [him].”

Virginia Tech Assistant Professor of Computer Science Anuj Karpatne has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant entitled "Biology‐guided neural networks for discovering phenotypic traits", projected to run for two years.

As early as middle school, Matt Sanford, now a senior at Virginia Tech, remembers working on projects such as building websites or programming small circuits. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he recognized his continued interest in computer science through college.

Virginia Tech Department of Computer Sciences recently served as a one of eight host sites for the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Regional Competition for the Midatlantic Region, drawing more than 26 teams from the region.