Aashvi Busa

Year in School
Freshman

Major
Computer Science

Research Interests
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Research Mentor
Prof. Solomon

Research/Engagement Experience
Through the science club at my high school, I completed a research project where I segmented the cells in patches of microscopic tissue images using a U-Net convolutional neural network. Using the segmentation results, I then analyzed the properties of the cells and classified the patches by tumor grading. Through this research, I realized the potential benefits of utilizing software algorithms in the medical industry as they can perform complex tasks accurately and efficiently.

Interests
Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Computational Biology

Project Title
TBD

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
From an early age, I was introduced to the world of technology through robotics, where I had my first experience using drag-and-drop programming to map out the course of a small robot. As I added one block after another, I began to see how the blocks functioned together to create the robot’s path— a step-by-step process that quickly captivated me. Over time, I’ve realized that computer science is more than just an academic subject: it’s a way of thinking. Tackling programming problems requires you to take something complex and break it down into a series of smaller, more approachable steps to reach a solution. As technology has become increasingly integrated into everyday life, I'm excited to apply the technical skills and analytical mindset I'll gain from studying computer science to address societal issues.

What social interests matter to me?
Equity in access to health care resources and environmental protection

What is my most impactful college experience?
The most impactful college experience I've had so far has been attending the Women in Engineering orientation during welcome week. Through that experience, I was able to meet many peers in my major and gain valuable knowledge from experts in the technology industry.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Dancing, baking, going on hikes, and playing board games!

Research Description
My research focuses on developing programs in C++ that parse data into k-mer files (subsequences of RNA data) and aggregate these sequences into various color matrices to quickly find genome sequences related to the target k-mer. I'm aiming to develop new methods of using color matrices that improve search capabilities in one or more factors including time, accuracy, and space.

Biography
I'm a freshman majoring in computer science and hoping to minor in both math and statistics at UIUC. I'm from Portland, Oregon and I grew up loving nature and being soaked in the rain. In high school, I took a few computer science classes and participated in a variety STEM clubs, all of which fueled my passion for technology and how it can be applied in the real-world to solve modern problems. In the future, I hope to have a career either in software engineering or as a researcher.