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Codester App

www.codesterapp.com

 

In the summer of 2013, I developed Codester, an educational app that aims to teach young users the principles of computer science. With my system, students as young as 1st grade begin to write simple code prompts using a visual programming language made up of only arrows and symbols. The aim is to get students to understand programming logic before they are introduced to actual syntax. Through using the app, users learn sequencing, code reuse, iteration, decision-making, efficiency, and problem solving.

I ran various user studies with grades 1-8 to quantify the effectiveness of this app. In only four sessions, users improved in all coding concepts that Codester teaches. Young boys and girls alike engaged with Codester. This app empowers young

students and advances

their CS knowledge,

preparing them to tackle

future, global technological

challenges.

 

Codester App is published

on the Google Play Store

for free downloads. This

app has been downloaded

internationally by hundreds

of students from over 30

countries.

 

Awards

 

  • 2014 Davidson Fellows Honorable Mention Award.

 

  • 4th Place Grand Award Prize in the Category of Computer Science at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • 2nd Place Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Award at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

 

  • Intel Open Source Technology Center Honorable Mention Special Award at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • European Organization for Nuclear Research Special Award: an all expense paid trip to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK) WebValley Summer Research in Italy Partial Scholarship at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • Wolfram Alpha Special Award at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • 1st Place Congressional STEM Competition House App Challenge 2014.

 

  • Code.org Student of the Week 2014.

 

  • 2nd Place at 2014 Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair (GCRSEF).

 

  • Intel Excellence in Computing Award at the 2014 Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair (GCRSEF) and Science Congress.

 

Grants

  • Association of Computing Machinery - Women Travel Award Grant to the 2014 SIG Computer Science Education Conference.

 

  • Siena Summer Scholars Research Grant, Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, Siena College.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Matter of the Internet

In the summer of 2014, I began working with Dr. Michael Bernstein, Stanford University, to study the Dark Matter of the Web. Much of the information on the web is biased or undocumented by search engines such as Google. Our aim is to quantify and analyze these baises and understand the extent to which the Internet maps actual reality. We performed random walks of 21 topics of interest capturing roughly 200,000 webpages, and then compared each topic’s popularity to representative national surveys as ground truth. We found that the Web's content tends to inflate rare experiences (by a median of 7x) and deflate common ones (by a median of 0.7x). For example, 7% of the American population owns a Blackberry phone while almost 30% of the webpages related to smartphones are about Blackberry phones. We propose that these trends are explained by novelty bias: individuals create content when their viewpoint is non-dominant.

 

Properties of Twitter Teenager Networks

In the spring 2012 - 2013, I studied how Twitter teenager networks behave. I looked at this question from a quantitative standpoint while most related literature attacks the problem qualitatively. My results are compared with general population user results, and show that teenagers behave uniquely. Teens tend to follow more users than general population users do and they tend to increase friendships over time. Teens friend individuals online who they already know offline. Teenagers also use Twitter as a news media and form supportive and dense communities. These results shed new light on the attributes of teenage networks. We can then utilize these ideas to find solutions to emerging problems involving the massive use of social media. For example, Twitter can be used as a positive tool for the prevention of bad habits among teens such as cyberbullying, and drug and alcohol use.

 

Awards

  • 2nd Place at the Undergraduate Student Research Competition at 2014 SIG Computer Science Education Conference (SIGCSE).

 

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse Special Award at the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • Wolfram Alpha Special Award at the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

 

  • 1st Place at 2013 Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair (GCRSEF).

 

  • 2013 Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair and Science Congress -  $40,000 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Award.

 

  • Winner of High Honors at the 2013 Eastern Section Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS).

 

Grants

  • Undergraduate Student Research Conference Travel Award Grant to the 2014 SIG Computer Science Education Conference.

 

 

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