Let's start off with the basics. What's your year, major, and hometown?

I'm a sophomore. I'm a CS major, and my hometown's San Diego, California.

Why and how did you choose this major?

I took [CS] 61A over the summer and found it very interesting that you could take something that originally you think is really complicated and simplify the solution within a few lines of code. CS 61B definitely helped me realize that I really liked this field and wanted to keep pursuing it. Data structures are a really important part of CS and the ways that the concepts learned in class could be applied to real world scenarios really sparked my interest. There's so much intersectionality between CS and other fields, such as statistics, economics, or biology, so there's many opportunities and paths to choose from.

What is one fun fact you'd like to share?

I'm left-handed!

What are some of your hobbies or interests?

I like baking. I'm not very good and I'm definitely not skilled enough to put something together without a recipe, but it's pretty fun and you get a yummy treat after. I've also been trying to do Chloe Ting workouts as much as possible and using workouts as a break from doing work and a change of headspace. I also spend too much time on Youtube and Netflix, and crosswords have been pretty fun too. I've recently started getting more into watching kdramas. Highly recommend watching Start-Up!

What are some of your professional interests and why are you interested in those fields?

I think my professional interests right now are probably software engineering or data science or a combination of the two. I think the classes that I've taken that are most relevant to those fields are the ones I've enjoyed the most. Also, my experiences in SAAS and what I've learned throughout the semesters have definitely allowed me to get a more application-based view on the fields. Some more industry experience will definitely allow me to gauge how I want to apply those professional interests.

Why did you change from applied math?

I took 61a and like the thinking process used to solve these kinds of problems. Math wasn't showing me this stuff. It was a lot more theoretical – CS was a lot more tangible.

What internship experience do you have?

Last summer, I was a Software Verification and Validation intern at Hologic, which is a biotech company for women's health. I worked with diagnostic instruments to ensure proper functionality through repeated stress testing. It was a different part of the software development life cycle than the coding I was used to seeing, but it was really interesting to experience that part of software testing. This summer, I will be a software engineering intern at MITRE, and I'm looking forward to gaining some industry experience and exploring software engineering as a possible future career.

What are your other campus involvements?

I'm also part of the Association of Women in EE/CS. It's been a supportive community community, and everyone can relate to being a woman in STEM and specifically in CS. It's really easy to ask for advice and hear other people's similar experiences, which have been very valuable.

How did you find out about SAAS, and why did you join?

I came into college as a Stats major so when I found SAAS, I knew that it definitely would be directly related to what I was interested in. I went to the infosession, and SAAS seemed like a very tight-knit community of people with similar interests. As a freshman, I knew there was a lot for me to learn, so SAAS's Career Exploration Committee really spoke out to be as a way of learning data analysis and meeting other people interested in statistics.

Which was your favorite SAAS committee you'd been in, and why?

I especially enjoyed IA. I think that it was a really good mixture of workshops and applying that knowledge to really cool projects. Being able to learn about NLP was really interesting because in lower divs and earlier classes, you don't touch on that as much. So, being able to experiment with it hands-on and work with the data was a really great learning experience.

Why did you stay in SAAS?

I think I've just really enjoyed the community that SAAS forms. I think that there's so many people with so many different backgrounds. For each class, you'll always be able to find at least one buddy, usually more. And I think that after CX and after I learned more about the other committees, I knew that I wanted to explore the other committees more and see what more SAAS had to offer.

What is your proudest accomplishment in SAAS?

I think my proudest accomplishment would probably be presenting at banquet last semester and just showing everyone what we did in IA. A lot of the time, the different committees are pretty separated and are working on their own projects, so it's really cool to be able to see what other people are working on throughout the semester and show what I've been working on in the committee that I'm in.

How has SAAS helped you with your career/professional development?

I've been to a couple of Brian's recruitment workshops, and I thought they were extremely helpful. I got a lot of tips, and I ask him questions on Slack, which he's super responsive to. There's also a lot of upperclassmen in SAAS [who have taken] classes that I'm interested in and have gone through similar experiences career-wise, [which] have really helped me as they are very approachable.

What is your favorite SAAS memory?

I really enjoyed the big/little speed dating event that we had. That was really fun to just speed round, meet new people and other members, and find out more about them and their experiences in SAAS or Berkeley in general.

How did you make friends with people in SAAS, and how did you meet them?

What brought a lot of the people that I know closer is probably through class study groups. Meeting to compare homework and go over concepts definitely brought us closer because it became part of a weekly routine. In Stat 140 last semester, that class was super difficult, but my study group with Jay, Wenhao, Jackie and Alvin definitely made the class easier and more enjoyable.

SAAS has three core values: community, exploration, and mentorship. Which one speaks to you the most, and why?

Community speaks to me the most. Just going back to the study groups that SAAS created, they have always been extremely, extremely helpful. A lot of people in SAAS have very similar interests in the realms of statistics or data science, but many want to apply it in different ways. SAAS has created a community for me not only through classes but also through working on SAAS assignments and bonding over shared interests. The past year, Rachel has really done such a great job making SAAS feel more like a big community with the house system, bigs/littles, and the donutbot system. Through those, I've been able to meet a lot more new people and really become integrated into the club as a whole.

What would you say is your personal vision for SAAS going forward?

When I first started in SAAS, it definitely wasn't as social as it is now, so I really enjoy seeing people step out of their comfort zone or going to socials and participate a lot more. I think the members are becoming increasingly outgoing, and participation has been really high. This increase in engagement and members connecting in and across committees has been really great to see. I'd definitely like to see more opportunities to see what other committees are like through an increase in shadowing programs and joint socials as it offers newer members a sense of what committee they're interested in pursuing next. Overall, I think SAAS is pretty great as it is now and is continuously improving semester to semester.

What is your favorite class and why?

My favorite class is probably [CS] 61B. I think that it really allowed me to discover my passion for CS, and what is taught in the course is extremely important. I also thought the projects were really rewarding. Creating the data structures or executing the algorithms learned in class from scratch really helped solidify my understanding, and the last project Build Your Own World gave me an opportunity to put all the data structures together to produce an interactive game, which was a challenging but satisfying experience. Professor Hug also teaches very well, and his slides are very informative and walk through everything step by step. Course staff and Professor Hug are all very eager to help and are passionate about the course, so that definitely made my time in the class even better. Overall, my experience in CS 61B was a very pleasant one, and I learned a lot from that course.

Who's your favorite professor?

I really like Professor Adhikari. I think that the way she teaches is really effective and allows us to really understand where everything comes from. She starts from what we know, and she builds on top of that to introduce new concepts. Everything is more proof based, which I personally enjoyed because it allows me to learn better and retain the information more when I understand the origin of a certain equation or concept. Her tests are really hard, but I think that [Stat] 140 was super rewarding.

What is your favorite Berkeley memory?

I think just the dorm experience in general brought a lot of great memories. A lot of people on my floor bonded in the first semester. Everyone's just staying up late and sitting in the hallway talking and chatting about classes or life in general. That definitely was a highlight of my freshman year experience on campus.

What is your favorite spot on campus that more people should know about?

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really like Main Stacks. I like the quiet study environment. I know not everyone can relate because some people like to study in a noisier location, but when I really need to focus, Main Stacks is really great. I just get in my zone, and I feel like I'm really productive there.

What is your favorite place to study at on campus?

Besides Main Stacks, I think the fifth floor of Mofitt is also a great place to study. It's sometimes hard to find seats, especially during dead week, but if you're lucky, that's a great spot to study because it's also quiet but there's still a little bit of commotion and there's lots of natural light coming in.

What are the prettiest and ugliest buildings on campus?

Personally, I think the ugliest building is maybe Dwinelle, probably because I always get lost in there so it's left a bad impression. And then for the prettiest building, I think the Campanile is just really amazing to look at because it's so tall and is a signature landmark for our school. Li Ka Shing is also really nice because it's really renovated. It's pretty far relative to some of the other buildings, but the common waiting area and the outdoor area are great places to get work done before class, and the lecture hall is really nice and aesthetic as well.

What's your favorite bathroom to use on campus?

The Moffitt bathrooms are pretty good because it's renovated and relatively cleaner than some of the other bathrooms on campus.

What is your favorite library on campus?

I would say Moffitt again, especially the fifth floor. I also really like how you can bring food or drinks in there, so I like to enjoy my coffee while studying. They also require a student ID to enter, so I feel safer temporarily leaving my stuff at my seat to get water or go to the bathroom. Also, seeing others be productive makes me more productive, so I usually get a good amount of work done when I'm at Moffitt.

What is your favorite restaurant in Berkeley?

I really like Imm Thai. I like spicy foods, and Imm Thai's noodle dishes are so good and so worth the wait.

What is your favorite boba shop?

TP Tea for sure. I like that they have mini boba pearls alongside the normal ones. Just don't drink too much of it at night though because there's a lot of caffeine. I learned that the hard way.