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Computer Programmers as Student Ambassadors in CSE

This page updated January 12, 2012.

CSE Student Ambassadors get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something special by representing the CSE Department.  CSE Student Ambassadors have an important impact on the lives of others and are saluted for showing us things that only they can do.  The CSE Department proudly recognizes CSE Student Ambassadors for their experience, committment, and energetic dedication.

Get Involved and Become a CSE Student Ambassador:  It's the duty of every student to show new students the ropes - how things are done.  We expect every CSE student to be concerned with the welfare of their collegues.  This type of learning may also take place outside of the classroom.  

To become a CSE Student Ambassador, contact the CSE Department at the Virtual Advising Center for the chance to get involved with student events in the CSE Department.

Opportunities for CSE Students:

CSE Student Ambassadors:

2010 Transfer Admit Day: Daniel Barajas, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2010.  My name is Daniel Barajas. I transferred as a Computer Science major this academic year. I am from Mount San Antonio College (aka Mt. SAC) which is located in Walnut, California (SoCal) next door to Cal Poly Pomona.  Currently, I am CSE tutor and have tutored CS courses since fall 2010. Also, I just accepted a summer internship position with VMWare this summer.  The reason why I like UCSD's undergraduate computer science program: Great faculty, staff, resources, and CS peers greatly enhance the undergraduate experience in many aspects.
 
2010 Orientation: Sarah Esper, B.S. Computer Science, Graduated Fall 2010.  I am originally from San Diego, and began my undergraduate career at UCSD in 2006 as a pre-med bioengineering major, which all changed when I found Computer Science.  I had no clue what it was until I started, but I fell in love! I did my four (and a quarter) years at UCSD in CSE, along the way doing volunteering, tutoring, internships and so much more.

I met the most awesome people who are now not only some of my best friends, but my mentors and colleagues as well. I decided in my third yer that I wanted to pursue a Masters to further my education and to open up more possibilities for me. I began UCSD CSE's BS/MS program and was glad I made that decision. In Winter 2011 I completed my BS and was able to focus on my MS. I then heard about an NSF fellowship and was encouraged to apply by my advisor. I was awarded the fellowship and this Fall (2011) I am beginning my PhD. I have done internships with Microsoft (summer 2009, 2011), Viasat (summer 2010) and NASA JPL (fall 2009-spring 2010). I love software development but also love teaching. In the future, I hope to complete my PhD, work in industry, then come back to teach.

2010 Orientation: Jessica Chin, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2007.  I'm from Fremont, California and I never thought I would end up as a Computer Science major. Here at UCSD I have been involved in CREU (Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates), National Geographic Engineers for Exploration, and tutoring. As a tip to incoming freshmen, I would strongly encourage them to take part in as many extracurricular activities, such as clubs, programs, and tutoring, as possible. Personally, one of the best experiences I've had was taking part in the Engineers for Exploration program here at UCSD where I got to collaborate with other engineers to build cool prototypes for National Geographic Explorers. In the future I would like to go to graduate school in Computer Science and eventually work in the software engineering industry.

2010 Trasnfer Admit Day: Carlos Garibay, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2009.   I transferred from Southwestern College in Chula Vista.  I was born and raised there in Chula Vista, but lived for 5 years in Tijuana when I was 12-17 years old. The spring semester before coming to UCSD I had already finished all my transfer requirements so I worked full time as a telemarketer to raise money and go to Europe for the summer with my brother.  I tutored for CSE 30 this past winter quarter.  I’m also planning to do a PhD either in Human Computer Intelligence with specialization in Robotics, Number Theory applied to Algorithms or applied to Software Security. 

 

2010 Orientation: Jennifer Fang, B.S. Computer Science with a Specialization in Bioinformatics, Admit Fall 2009.   I'm from Thousand Oaks, CA, and I'll be starting my junior year as a Computer Science w/ Bioinformatics major. I've been doing research since my freshman year at UCSD, and I've been working in Dr. Bing Ren's lab since last summer. The projects I'm currently working on are modeling chromosomes in their uncondensed state and analyzing interchromosomal interactions. I hope to start my honors thesis later this year, building off of my existing projects. Activities I've done with the CSE department include tutoring for Rick Ord since last fall, after I took CSE 30 (which has been my favorite class so far at UCSD), and doing an independent study project with Gary Gillespie. For other on campus activities, I'm the president of the Jacobs School Scholars Society. Outside of school I have been a pre-health intern at Pomerado Hospital since last December, and I just started my rotation in the birth center. This year, I'm applying to medical school, specifically looking at MD-PhD programs.
 
2010 Orientation: Zach Johnson, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2010.   I’m a rising sophomore from the San Diego area.  I interned at Microsoft this summer as a Software Development Engineer on the Parallel Computing Platform, and I’m the developer behind the app launcher Promptu (www.promptulauncher.com).  I also tutor for Rick Ord.

2010 Orientation: Justine Pascual, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2008.   I am an incoming Senior, majoring in Computer Science. I am originally from Hawaii and moved to San Diego for college. Currently, I am heavily involved in the Air Force ROTC Program at San Diego State University. After I graduate from UCSD, I will commission into the U.S. Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Cyber Warfare career field. Throughout my undergraduate years, I have worked under Professor Kastner on pose/gesture recognition through the XBOX Kinect, and have interned at the Air Force Institute of Technology, in Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio this past summer. My favorite CSE classes so far have been CSE 140/140L, CSE 141/141L, and CSE 145.

2010 Orientation: Marjori Pomarole, B.S. Computer Engineering, Admit Fall 2010.  I am an international student at UCSD from São Paulo, Brazil. About to begin my sophomore year majoring in Computer Engineering at the Jacob's School of Engineering. Last year I was in the DECaF committee as the Alumni Representative and volunteered on some of TESC's Outreach events on campus. I have been tutoring CSE 8A/B for Rick Ord for the past two quarters and hope to continue tutoring throughout my academic career. This summer I interned as a Software Developer/QA Tester at Apple, Inc. I plan to attend as many tech talks and career fair as I can at UCSD to learn about my field and find an internship for next summer.

2010 Orientation: Kristina Thai, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2007.  Kristina is a 5th year computer science major from Riverside, CA planning to graduate in June 2012. She has worked as a software engineering intern and a technical program manager intern at Intuit for the past three summers. Kristinahas been an officer in the Computer Science and Engineering Society (CSES) since her freshman year and is now currently President.  After graduation, she plans to work in industry as either a software engineer or a program manager for a few years, and then attend graduate school.  

2010 Transfer Admit Day: Jong Yoon, B.S. Computer Engineering, Admit Fall 2009.   I’m from Fresno City College. I didn’t take any programming and engineering classes until I got to UCSD, so I started getting involved in computer science just over a year ago. Right now, I’m taking CSE 110 –Software Engineering and I’m working on a project with Professor Gary Gillespie that deals with tracking a personal exercise program. I’m getting hands-on experience with working as a group with fellow students and discussing the design and implementation of a great project. 

2010 Orientation: Yixin Zhu, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2009.  I’m currently a CSE Tutor for Professor Rick Ord tutoring classes including CSE 8A/B, 11, 30, and 131. I have taken independent study (CSE198) with Gary, CSE197 with Rick for my most recent internship, and since I am also currently in the process of beginning my honors thesis, will soon be enrolling in (CSE199H), on top of all the core CS classes required by the major. As I am only about to go into my third year, I have already acquired a decent amount of work experience outside of academia. My first summer I worked at ZeeNook Inc., a local startup and just recently finished up an internship at Microsoft for my second summer. I am currently already interviewing with Google for an internship next summer. I have also done a bunch of little side projects aside from school and work including writing android/iphone/windows phone applications. I plan/hope on going on to do a masters and then getting an MBA to go into the startup/small company route, eventually settling in to a medium/large corporation, hopefully in some kind of management/lead role. Outside of computer science I play IM basketball, run, swim, and weight train at RIMAC on a regular basis. I love meeting new people and socializing whenever I can and I look forward to a chance to meet and mingle with the entering class of fellow computer science majors and potential colleagues.

2010 Transfer Admit Day:  Michael Kohanfars, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Spring 2008:
I came to UCSD Spring quarter 2008 from Pierce Community College in Woodland Hills. I transferred in as a philosophy major and soon found that I not only wanted to enrich my mind and soul but I also wanted to make enough money to back up my frivolous needs. Two quarters later I switched to Computer Science, realizing that it would allow me to not only explore areas I never knew about, but that it I would be able to support myself enough to later explore even more areas in other disciplines as well. Computer Science at UCSD gave me the opportunity to learn, be challenged and work with some of the smartest people that I have ever met. I feel that studying Computer Science, specifically at UCSD, is both an honor and a privilege and is fulfilling my needs to broaden my mind.

2010 Transfer Admit Day: Derrick McMillen, B.S. Computer Science, Admit Fall 2010:  I grew up in San Diego and graduated from a local high school. I attended Mira Costa College prior to transferring. In my free time, I love to play football and go hiking. I also enjoy learning .NET technologies like C#, ASP.NET, and WCF. This summer, I’ll be working for Yahoo! as a frontend engineer intern for Y! Search. I appreciate how UC San Diego has widened my future opportunities in industry - due to quality educators and the friendly passionate computer science student body. 



by Dr. Radut.