Eisha Peyyeti is a senior studying CS, with most of her work at The Grainger College of Engineering Siebel School of Computing and Data Science revolving around the aerospace industry. She is also a member of Illinois Student Ambassadors/Research Scholars (STARS), better known as CS STARS. It is a crucial component of the Broadening Participation in Computing program to “develop and maintain a representative, inclusive, and supportive community that prepares and empowers all of its members to excel and effect positive impact in the broader community.” CS STARS is a school-directed program focusing on undergraduate women interested in pursuing computer science research.
She says, “I've been in STARS since my sophomore year, and the most interesting thing I've noticed is that even within this smaller BPC community, you can see the evolution of how we're making an active effort to increase awareness of our CS STARS community. In my sophomore year, it was a small group of maybe thirtyish people, and now it's close to a hundred. Through my CS STARS involvement, I have been able to interact with prospective/admitted students, chat with their parents, and have gained an appreciation for the efforts toward broadening engagement in CS.”
Peyyeti obtained an internship at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in her junior year, where she combined her interests in aerospace and software, mentored by Jill Giles, a lead software engineer and project manager at NASA. Peyyeti was assigned a software project used in pre-launch testing for the Artemis mission.
The program takes place during the academic year. CS and CS+X majors are eligible to apply. CS STARS members receive a stipend and commit to about ten hours per week. They conduct research with and are mentored by a Siebel School for Computing and Data Science faculty member for six to seven hours a week. They also engage in recruiting, mentoring, and cohort-building activities three to four hours a week.
The CS STARS application is available here.
On November 6, Trick or Research occurred at the Siebel Center for Computer Science atrium. Researchers shared their work with students, demonstrating the range of computing and data science research opportunities available to undergraduates.
Peyyeti says undergraduates often keep their research to themselves and their resumes. Trick or Research is “a nice way to showcase the depth of the research side of things. I'm in professor Wenzhen Yuan's RoboTouch lab, and I'll be presenting what I've been working on so far. Trick or Research is a great way to get a good idea of what research even exists. I think that often at CS, our mindset is driven to think that research is narrowed to one specific field, but with Trick or Research, you have all these students doing research across such an expansive set of topics, from agricultural-based CS research to human-computer interaction. And I think the one other thing that I found out over the course of my time, at least as an Illinois CS student, is there are opportunities even outside of the CS curriculum that offer ways for people to get involved with research.”
She continues, “You can present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. I was able to earn an award in that symposium as a freshman, which was incredible. I never thought that was possible. It's something that I could put on my resume and feel fulfilled about. There are also Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Programs that are looking for candidates who do not necessarily have a pre-existing research background. They're looking for people who want to learn, get involved, and show initiative and interest."
Broadening Participation in Computing programs and activities at Illinois seeks to make computing available to people from all backgrounds at all levels. In 2022, Sapna Cheryan, Allison Master and Andrew Meltzoff wrote in Scientific American about their paper showing that “young children and adolescents in the U.S., like adults, believe that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering.” This leads to choices by girls where “gender stereotypes become self-fulfilling prophecies.” The CS STARS members demonstrate to young women and men alike that young women are enthusiastic about and successful in computing and data science.
Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Wenzhen Yuan is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of computer science.