Isabella Nisperos

Year in School
Freshman

Major

Research Interests
Data and Information Systems

Research Mentor
Prof. George Chacko

Research/Engagement Experience
As part of Argonne National Laboratory's Exemplary Student Research Program, I worked with eight other students and a mentor to develop a research proposal, conduct research, and present our findings at the APS User Meeting. Our research examined the harmful effects of cobalt in common plants such as lettuce, tomato, and carrots. After conducting the experiment, we worked with scientists to analyze the results by calculating a cobalt to potassium ratio to determine which plant had the greatest cobalt uptake without accounting for root size. We also compared our findings to a 2021 experiment that used a smaller beamline, and analyzed the more detailed numbers from a stronger beamline.

Interests
I would like to start research in data and information systems. I want to learn more about data visualization, especially through computer generated graphs. In summary, I want to learn how to package intricate data so that it can be better understood by more people.

Project Title

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
In high school, I accidentally took a Web Design course where I learned HTML and JavaScript, and since then, I took every computer science course offered there. My favorite part of computer science is its flexibility. Computer science anchored itself to each of my passions, and I would find it in places I wouldn't even think to look. I found it in my journalism class where I brought once buried articles to the front page of the website as Webmaster. I found it in my Music Production class, where I would use the principles of loops and conditionals to make songs. I love how it allows me to project my voice from the touch of a keyboard.

What social interests matter to me?
Sustainability, gender gap in STEM

What is my most impactful college experience?
While I have only been in college for a few weeks, my favorite part has been meeting a large community of Filipinos. I have never been surrounded by so many Filipino people my age, and it makes me feel more connected to my culture.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Dogs, musicals, the color purple, Taylor Swift, books

Research Description
My research focuses on scientific citations and how it captures collaboration, helping to describe the structure of research communities and the scientific enterprise. Examining citations at scale offers a landscape view of collaborations and social behavior in science. I have analyzed a sample of the scientific literature surrounding histone biology and examined the distribution of citation frequencies across it. My current research covers the measurements of breadth and depth to assess the impact of a paper [Bu et al. (2020) and Wu et al. (2019)]. I plan to reproduce their observations on new datasets and continue research by Franklin Moy and Elaina Wittmer at UIUC to inspect large datasets. Therefore, we can interpret citations in multiple dimensions, allowing us to redefine the context of community structure within these networks. To this purpose, I work with George Chacko, a Research Professor of Computer Science at UIUC.

Biography
Isabella Nisperos is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and is interested in a minor in business. Last school year, she was part of Argonne Laboratory's Exemplary Student Research Program where she examined the harmful effects of cobalt on common plants. She has experience in Java, JavaScript, and Python from participating in programs such as Girls Who Code, Amazon's Future Engineers Program, and Argonne's Coding for Science Camp. She also has hours of experience with HTML and CSS, and enjoys using both creative thinking and problem solving skills to create websites. Isabella has been working on a website that highlights the adverse effects of fast fashion, and is interested in developing an algorithm that determines the most sustainable fabric for different types of clothing. Within the UIUC community, she is a member of SWE, WIE, and hopes to get involved with ACM. If she is not sitting in front of a computer, you can find her playing guitar or participating in a play or musical.