The UT Dallas Computing Scholars Program Student Internship Success Stories: Shayan Monadjemi
Shayan Monadjemi is a junior in the CS2 program. In 2016, he participated in the Smart Environments REU Program at Washington State University (WSU) and helped develop an algorithm for discovering and maintaining a list of frequent and interesting patterns occurring in a collection of graphs. Such an algorithm can be applied to many different real world problems that are represented by evolving graphs. Criminal network discovery for national security and activity pattern discovery for smart houses are just a couple of examples.
Below is a short piece he wrote about his internship and how the REU program benefitted him:
In 2016, I spent my summer participating in the Smart Environments REU Program at Washington State University (WSU). WSU is located in the small town of Pullman, in eastern Washington, which has rich natural surroundings, ranging from the peaceful cherry farms to the vibrant Snake River. Being a nature enthusiast myself, I found that I was never bored over the weekends.
During my REU program, I joined a team consisting of my research professor and his graduate student. I studied incremental algorithms for graph streams. More specifically, we developed an algorithm for discovering and maintaining a list of frequent and interesting patterns occurring in a database of graphs. Such an algorithm can be applied to many different real world problems that are represented by evolving graph databases. Criminal network discovery for national security and activity pattern discovery for smart houses are just a couple of examples.
In addition to researching and developing graph algorithms, the program provided me with an incredible opportunity each week to meet with faculty members in different departments ranging from education to agricultural engineering, which provided me with the chance to learn about each field and their research projects. Many of the opportunities I was presented with taught me a lot about computer science, this program significantly prepared me for graduate school. Having such a great summer research experience would have simply been impossible without the help and courage that I received from my amazing professors at UT Dallas. I will always be thankful to our UT Dallas faculty who support my peers and me every day and encourage us to get involved in research.
Click here to read Amber Hasan’s internship story.
Click here to read Karan Shukla’s internship story.
ABOUT THE UT DALLAS COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
The UT Dallas Computer Science program is one of the largest Computer Science departments in the United States with over 2,100 bachelor’s-degree students, more than 1,000 MS master’s students, 150 PhD students, and 86 faculty members, as of Fall 2016. With The University of Texas at Dallas’ unique history of starting as a graduate institution first, the CS Department is built on a legacy of valuing innovative research and providing advanced training for software engineers and computer scientists.