Claire Zheng
Year of Participation in STARS
Research Interests
Interactive Computing
Research Mentor
Katie Cunningham
Research/Engagement Experience
Interests
Interactive Computing
How did I get interested in Computer Science?
After joining a robotics team in seventh grade and learning the basics of Java, I found the Project Euler website and had lots of fun solving the puzzles through code. In high school, I ended up independently programming a Discord bot with the goal to replicate and combine functions of other popular bots onto my own to create a super-bot. I realized I really enjoyed the process of finding new APIs online that I never knew existed. By implementing and playing around with the new APIs, I decided that wanted to explore problem solving in real life applications in the future.
What social interests matter to me?
Promoting and inspiring women in STEM.
Why did you choose Illinois?
What are your passions outside of computing?
What has been one of your favorite experiences at Illinois that you would like to share with prospective students? (For Continuing UIUC Students)
What has been one of your favorite experiences as a CS STAR? (For Returning CS STARS)
What is my most impactful college experience?
Meeting new friends in class or events and trying out new RSOs with them.
These are a few of my favorite things!
I love cats, drinking boba, reading fantasy books, solving 1000-piece puzzles, and playing video games.
Biography
My name is Claire and I'm a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in Computer Science. I was born and raised in Wilmette, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago.