Category Archives: Grad Alumni

Ph.D. Information and Computer Science, 2013

Why did you choose this degree?

I wanted to work on something challenging, something that I believed in.
Near the end of my undergraduate degree, I had worked in software development and QA jobs, but the work was isolated and didn’t offer me the chance to work with people. I sought out advice from professors at UC Irvine and that led me to find Andre, who offered me the chance to do a PhD that involved both building software, and studying how it impacted people’s lives. The Informatics program was an ideal place to do that work.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.

Along with a colleague I met at UCI, I co-founded a startup called SketchTogether, which is taking the lessons that I learned from my research and turning it into a real product. My co-founder was a visiting student from Padua, Italy, who worked on Calico, the collaborative sketching tool that was my dissertation. Since graduation, we set out to turn that vision into an actual product that people and companies can use.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

The opportunity to improve people’s lives through the work that I do, and the opportunity to use the full skillset that the PhD has taught me. As a two person startup, we have our hands on everything, from building the technology, to meeting with customers, to giving presentations about our vision.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

Start work at 6AM to collaborate with my colleague in Europe, and see where the day takes me from there. There is no typical work day, but rather I work on what needs to be done. I might be indoors writing developing software, or outdoors making presentations about our product and working with customers.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

Hands down the people I met while working at UCI. No other time in my life will I be surrounded by such a diverse, passionate, and high quality group of people. Every meeting, chance to share a coffee, and chat in the hallway were opportunities for serendipity, solving some problem, or coming up with a new project. The week-long seminar in Milan, the five month research trip in Brazil, and the dozens of other trips to conferences I made throughout my PhD career gave me the chance to learn and exchange ideas with a great group of people from all over the world.

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

It’s different for every person, but the PhD put me in a good position upon graduation to embark on a startup. It taught me to think critically, write and present my ideas well, and, through internships and working on a multi-year project, how to be a software developer.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

I have major two pieces of advice to incoming students: (1) pick a project your first year and dedicate yourself to it. Chances are, you won’t know what you’re truly passionate about until your second or third year, but by focusing on a project your first year, you’ll gain valuable applied experience. Also, (2) get out there and socialize with your peers. In grad school you’re given a rare opportunity to surround yourself with a high quality group of people, and it’ll be place where life-long friendships will be made.

Ph.D. Information & Computer Science, 2003

Why did you choose this degree?

I was always interested in the role that technology plays in society. One of the areas that I was particularly interested in was understanding the sociotechnical aspects of health information technologies (HIT). Consequently, I had a number of conversations with Dr. John King who, at that time, was part of the Computing, Organizations, Society, Policy (CORPS) group in ICS about doing a PhD focused on examining the sociotechnical issues surrounding HIT. CORPS was a very unique group that was interested in examining technology from perspectives that was more than just technical. This approach appealed to my particular interests. Based on our mutual interests, John agreed to be my PhD Thesis Advisor.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.?

I decided early on in graduate school that I wanted to be an academic faculty member. So, after graduate school, I took a faculty position in the Department of Business & Information Technology at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. After two years there, I left to join the faculty at the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) at Penn State University. I am currently an Associate Professor in IST.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

There are actually two things that I enjoy most about my current position. First, I enjoy the freedom that I have to work on research problems that I find interesting. I get to identify the problem and think about how I would like to address it. Second, I enjoy working with students (graduate and undergraduate) in my research projects. I get to work with some very bright students who often teach me something that I didn’t know before.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

My typical day depends on whether or not I’m teaching that day. If I’m teaching, my day usually consists of the teaching my class(es), office hours, as well as grading and other teaching related activities. If I’m not teaching, it is usually research oriented. I’m either in research meetings with my students, working on research papers, or writing grants.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

I really appreciated the freedom to explore the research issues that I was interested in as well as the support I received from the faculty. Part of the challenge of doing a PhD is not only identifying a problem that is both worth addressing as part of a PhD thesis but that can also be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. ICS has some of the top researchers in the field. So, I had the freedom to explore a sociotechnical issues in HIT but also get help in my scoping my PhD thesis from great faculty members.

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

My career has been very interdisciplinary – my research is at the intersection of two different communities (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Medical Informatics). This could have been particularly challenging if not for the training that I received at ICS. As a graduate student, I was supported in my efforts to publish in both communities and received help in how to write and communicate my ideas to the two communities. Therefore, it seemed natural for me to continue doing this after I graduated from UCI and started my academic faculty career.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

I would encourage students to talk to different faculty members about their research ideas. I think students would be surprised at how their problem may interest a particular faculty member that that they did not think would be interested in the problem. I am also a firm believer in working across disciplines because that is where many major research problems are. So, I would encourage students to think about problems that may cross domains or disciplines. Finally, I would encourage students to enjoy their time in graduate school. I tried to keep a balance between the academic and other aspects of my life so that I would not “burn out”.

Ph.D. Information and Computer Science, 2013

Why did you choose this degree?

Coming out of my undergraduate degree at Cornell University, I knew I was interested in the programming languages/software engineering space. Then after talking with UCI Informatics Professor Crista Lopes about her work on Sourcerer I knew I’d found a good fit. The informatics program offered me the flexibility to combine my interests in static analysis with a more software engineer focus to study how open-source code sees use in practice.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.?

Since slightly before graduating, I’ve been a forward deployed engineer at Palantir Technologies.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

It’s hard to pick just one thing! When it comes down to it, though, I’d say the best part is getting to work on interesting problems with a bunch of really smart people. It reminds me of my time in grad school!

What does a typical work day look like for you?

On a typical day I get in to the office around 9 a.m. and leave around 6 p.m. As for what happens during that time, there’s a fair amount of variety. For me, there’s usually a mix of client interaction, agile project management, software design work, programming and system maintenance.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

Meeting my wife at UCI is definitely the best part of my experience. My favorite part of the academic environment at UCI was definitely getting the chance to work with such a variety of smart people, both at the graduate student and faculty level. Plus traveling all over the world to present my work was fun, too.

In what ways did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

The combination of significant coursework in software engineering with years of system building as part of my research left me with technical and project management skills that have direct applications to my current job. Additionally, the communication-related skills I learned during my time at UCI have served me very well when it comes to writing documentation and to interacting directly with non-technical clients about technical issues.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

If you’re looking to go into a technical, non-research industry job, I’d say the biggest thing to keep in mind is that the best way to learn technical skills is by doing interesting technical work. Coursework is great for providing context and theory, but there’s no substitute for actual system design and programming. So pick a research project that involves building a system, and don’t skimp on the internships!

Ph.D. Information and Computer Science, 2010

Why did you choose this degree?

While I have always been interested in the larger Computer Science field and how diverse it is, Software Engineering at UCI’s Bren School allowed for so much flexibility and applicability to a wide variety of problems.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.?

Since graduating in 2010, I joined a Navy research laboratory in San Diego as a federal employee. In my current position, I serve as the Lead Researcher for the Cyber Security Division. In this role, I work on developing new cutting-edge ideas to secure our nation’s systems, networks, and infrastructures.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

While what I do everyday is truly fun, I very much enjoy knowing that I am solving problems that matter to our country as well as empowering our warfighters with new technologies that one day can save lives.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

As any researcher will tell you, a typical day is often times an illusion. I wear many hats in my current role, and on any given day I am developing new ideas, seeking funding, working on publications, briefing audiences, as well as mentoring junior scientists and engineers. The one thing I can say though, is that now that I have graduated and have a career, I can (for the most part) decide when my workday is over and not take any of that work home; trust me, you will get there sooner than you think.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

Location aside (come on, how can you say no to Orange County?), the people at UCI is who made the best part of my experience. UCI, and The Bren School in particular, believe in exploring beyond your boundaries and learning from others, especially those far from your field. In addition, the fact that UCI is still a fairly new campus makes for an experience where students are encouraged to engage and contribute to the way the campus operates.

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

While my studies definitely provided a sound basis for my career, UCI encouraged me to think on my own, solve difficult problems, and be proactive about mentoring others. These three life lessons have become the basis of my career so far, and have enabled me to be an effective researcher and leader.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

First of all, remember that you are there to learn and that learning will come in different forms. With that said, cherish your time as a student and don’t be afraid to explore, oftentimes we learn more from failures than we do from things going according to plan. Lastly, recognize early in your career that you are not there by chance; though you earned your way to UCI, there are many people in your life who played a role in you getting there- this is your chance to give back by supporting others along the journey.

M.S. Information and Computer Science, 2006

Why did you choose this degree?

As an undergraduate at UCI, I started working with Dr. Andre van der Hoek on some research projects. I really enjoyed the projects and research direction, so it was natural for me to continue that work at UCI as a graduate student.

What has been your career path since graduating with an M.S.?

After getting my Masters degree, I joined Google Inc. as a software engineer on Picasa Web Albums. I’ve since moved across several teams and offices and am now a tech lead/manager on an internal tool in the Google Irvine office. While I enjoy being a software engineer, I have also considered switching to be a product manager within Google, but ultimately wanted to stay technical.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

My favorite part of the position is the amount of flexibility that I have. As a tech lead/manager, I can still code (in fact, I’m expected to code), but I can also spend a large part of my time reviewing requirements, mocks and technical design. I’m also able to do project management and think of ways to improve overall team process. Finally, as a people manager, I get to spend a significant amount of time helping people’s career growth and ensuring people are happy doing what they are doing. Basically, I get to do a little of everything and never be bored thanks to the variety.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

This changes based on what phase of the project we are in. Some weeks I’d be coding 80 percent of the time, while there are other weeks where I don’t code at all. Normally, I would say that I get in in the morning, catch up on emails and then have several hours of meetings back to back. These meetings can range from 1-on-1s to meetings with product managers and UI designers to design the latest features as well as long-term roadmap meetings. We don’t have a lot of status meetings, except for short daily stand-ups that last 15 minutes. Most of my meetings are very active with lots of discussions to keep you engaged. The afternoon usually is a little slower where I have time to catch up on design docs, triage bugs and do code reviews for others. Occasionally, I’ll have some time to code as well.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

I think the best part of my experience at UCI was the focus on the different aspects of software engineering. It’s not just about hardware or algorithms, but it really allowed me to explore all the different aspects of engineering from the development process to human-computer interaction to law/policies.

In what ways did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

It’s hard to pinpoint one or two things that prepared me for my career. I think you really have to think of it as a holistic experience and the breadth of topics that we were exposed to. Certainly algorithms and data structures helped build a solid foundation for programming, but so did introductory software engineering courses that taught you UML diagrams and how to identify use cases. I think the most important thing is building up the common language with other engineers, knowing what agile process is, or what class diagrams are, design patterns, etc. These all help you communicate with your coworkers on a daily basis.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

Take your time to explore the different aspects of software engineering. It’s not all about programming or algorithms (though they certainly help and are what a lot of companies look for in an interview), but try to provide a complete package. You need to have a keen product sense to know what features your users want and how to make it useful as well as usable just as much as you need to understand how to program it. Also keep in mind with cloud infrastructure, you don’t need to know the details of everything, but rather understand how all the pieces fit together. Most importantly, don’t let any one aspect of computer science scare you! Just like intro to computer science taught you, it’s all about abstraction– start at a high level and slowly break down the pieces you need to learn about.

M.S. Informatics, 2012

Why did you choose this degree?

I received my undergraduate degree in Computer Science and I was searching for a program that focused on human-computer interaction. The Informatics program at UC Irvine is well known and I found the on-going research to be exciting. My interest in working with the faculty and the program’s focus on HCI made it a great fit.

Have you done an internship? If so, where and in what role?

I worked at Google as a Software Engineering Intern on the Google Reader team where I helped develop feed recommendations and various other features inside Google Reader (Google Reader was discontinued in 2013). I also participated in an internship at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer on the Xbox Media Platform R&D team. While at Microsoft, I helped build out the interface and functionality on media applications (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) for the Xbox 360/Kinect.

What has been your career path since graduating with a M.S.?

After graduating, I’ve moved up to San Francisco and am working at a start-up that builds hardware and software. We were lucky enough to have been accepted to Y Combinator in the W13 batch and have since been growing the business. Having previously focused on software, I’ve been learning a ton about hardware and what it takes to build a successful business.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

The scope of my current work requires me to wear many hats, ensuring that I’m always learning new things and I never get bored. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet incredibly smart and passionate people who are working on solving difficult problems.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

There’s no typical work day at a start-up. The rapid pace means that there’s always something that needs to be completed or a problem that needs to be solved. Otherwise, you’ll find me talking to customers, building software, or debugging hardware.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

The best part of my experience at UCI was getting to know the students and faculty and having the privilege of working with them. I found the ongoing research projects exciting and they made me want to learn more and work harder. Of course, it doesn’t hurt being in Southern California.

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

My time at UC Irvine has helped me expand my skillset as an engineer. The Informatics program provides a solid understanding of how people interact with technology, which is essential when designing successful products.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

My advice to incoming students would be to try new things and make an effort to meet a variety of people on campus. Consider finding a research project you’re interested in and work with the faculty. If you’re looking to work in the industry after your degree, be sure to apply for internships during the summer to get valuable experience in the field. Finally, there are a number of opportunities for new experiences at UCI; consider taking a scuba diving class at the ARC, trying the rope course with your friends or riding the hot air balloon at the Great Park.

M.S. Information & Computer Science, 2005

Why did you choose this degree?

I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of my craft. This was reaffirmed when one of the first MS classes I took with André, he asked us to discard all that we knew about Software design, and challenged us to think outside the box (literally).

What has been your career path since graduating with a [Ph.D. / M.S.]?

I worked with IBM until 2007. In August 2007, I joined fellow Anteaters Vijesh Mehta, Punit Shah, and Dinesh Ravishanker to co-found CallFire.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

As a cofounder you grow with the company. Everyday you are required to evolve and be what the company, your team requires you to be. This perennial commitment to personal growth is challenging and exhilarating.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

I manage teams in six locations across four time zones so I’m on pretty much 24/7. However, my typical workday starts around 6:00 AM and ends most days around 11:00 PM.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

The relationships I built. CallFire would not exist!

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

The focus on principles over tools, ideas over technology. That’s allowed me to continue to stay relevant in the marketplace even though many of the technologies that were around in 2001 are now defunct.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

I will quote what Norm Jacobson: “The days of nerds is long past. Learn computer science; learn also as much as you can about anything else you can while you’re here.”

To that I’ll add make friends, the best networking you can do is that with your peers. I got my first job (IBM) and co-founded my first company (CallFire) because of the relationships I built with my fellow classmates.

Ph.D. Information and Computer Science, 2006

Why did you choose this degree?

Because the reputation of the program and the opportunity of working with the faculty and in projects of high impact.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.?

• Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at the School of Informatics of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom
• Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at the Manchester School of Business of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom
• Associate Professor and Researcher at the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Mexico
• Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), Mexico (current position)
• Head of Department at the Department of Computer Science at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), Mexico (current position)
• Co-Director of the EPIC Lab: ITAM Center of Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), Mexico (current position)

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

I love teaching, I love helping students to define innovation-based entrepreneurship, I love doing research with my students and colleagues from all over Mexico and the world.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

I start very early in the morning (4:30 a.m.), play with my dog at around 6 a.m., prepare breakfast and head to leave my son at his school and then to my workplace (ITAM University) (7:30 a.m.). Most of my days are a mixed of planned an unplanned meetings and “Constant, constant, multi-tasking craziness” (Gonzalez & Mark 2004). I love what I do and I enjoy the mix of admin, teaching, research and consulting activities that define my days. I do a lot of external linking with companies in Mexico and in other parts of the world. The best moments at the office are those when I meet my students and see what direction their projects have taken. I also love those days when I do consulting and can see the value of theory in practice and practitioners being touched by the value of sound academic research.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

The networking: the fact of being surrounded by so many valuable people. The multidisciplinarity: be able to discover that Information and Computer Science can only be understood when you look at it from the multidisciplinary perspective. What other place in the world can you find a School of Information and Computer Science with such mix of high caliber faculty members from so diverse disciplines?

In what way(s) did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

I feel that I was very well prepared as a researcher and as an academic and I believe that I could not get better training: I worked for, with and together with the best people.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

You have to understand that UCI has strong roots in the Information and Computer Science field around the globe. Many important, intelligent and innovative people have been part of ICS and they keep the connection with UCI. You come to join a true community with tradition, reputation and relevance in the field of Information and Computer Science.

Ph.D. Information & Computer Science, 2010

Why did you choose this degree?

Before I joined the program, I had worked as an engineer in the IT industry for several years, and I learned from this experience that I’d prefer working as a researcher, so I chose to come back to school and pursue a Ph.D. degree.

What has been your career path since graduating with a Ph.D.?

After I received my Ph.D. degree, I came back to Shanghai, China and joined Fudan University there, and have been working as a faculty member in the School of Computer Science at Fudan since then.

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

There are a lot of things I enjoy about my current position, including the relative freedom in choosing what topics to work on, the relatively flexible working hours, being part of the global community of some very smart and fun people, teaching and interacting with students, reading and writing, and so on. Of course, doing research on topics I care about is what I enjoy the most.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

In the morning, I will try to clear out some relatively shallow tasks in my to-do list, such as filling forms, finishing paper work, dealing with emails, making slides and so on. In the afternoon, besides meeting and teaching, I will try to manage some time to do concentrated work, such as reading and writing. After becoming a faculty member, I found sometimes it is not easy to get time to do that, but I think it is very important and I care and enjoy it.

What was the best part of your experience at UCI?

I think the best part of my experience at UCI was the exposure to some top-tier scholars and researchers in the field of information and computer science. The opportunities to personally meet and learn from these people are what I appreciated the most.

In what ways did your studies prepare you for your career to date?

First, it helped me to get into the field I was interested in. Although I wanted to do research and decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree when I came to UCI, I knew very little about research and the field then. The studies at UCI helped me to get through that and become an independent researcher. Second, at UCI, I met not simply top-tier researchers and scholars, but also very smart and diligent student peers, and some of them have become my important collaborators today.

What would be your advice to incoming students who might want to follow a similar career path?

For those who come to pursue a Ph.D. degree, they may come with big ideas or big goals to accomplish, but my advice would be to not be afraid of doing something small, because small steps add up to big goals. As a famous Chinese saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (千里之行，始于足下).