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Department newsletter: Fall 2021
It’s been an exciting year for USC’s Department of Computer Science! See some of our faculty and student highlights, learn more about our new hires and research funding awards in this handy fact sheet.
Robotics Interaction Lab
Institute for Creative Technologies
Published on July 19th, 2017
Last updated on August 18th, 2023
Jingbo Wang
PhD in Computer Science
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months?
Nintendo switch! During COVID, most of the time, we have to stay at home. Playing some games (e.g. animal crossing) on Nintendo switch is really relaxing
Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it.
If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?
I think I would like to pursue J.D. or LL.M in law school. For some of the code-based laws, it is well suited to apply formal methods and logic to represent them. Researchers have proposed a default logic to formalize the federal tex code and its accompanying regulations. What I’m currently doing is applying the logic to formalize the behavior of the software. In the future, I wish I could use that to formalize code-based laws, to detect ambiguities and drafting errors.
What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC?
There are so many reasons:) First, the professor I want to work with is at USC. Second, there are many PL/SE researchers in USC and we could discuss, collaborate in many possible ways. The atmosphere here is really motivating. Third, USC has so many female clubs (e.g. WinCC, WiSE) where we could learn from each other’s experiences and try to encourage more females in the STEM area. Fourth, USC provides many valuable classes such as public speaking, creative thinking, arts performance and etc. It really broadens our horizons in addition to our own expertise. Last but not least, LA is such a special city with palm trees, skateboarding teens, oddball bohemians, and the occasional movie star. You will fall in love with it once you come here.
If you were to recommend to an incoming student 3 places to go in California/Los Angeles, what would they be?
Griffith observatory, Universal Studios, Getty center
What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC?
There are so many unforgettable memories at USC. The farmer’s market outside Leavey library, annual conquest rally, birthday celebrations for our lab-mates, and hanging out together in USC Village.
What's one thing about you that might surprise me?
Although I give public presentations in the premier conference and make friends with other researchers, I am a typical introvert and I dislike social activities. When attending the conference, people are expected to interact with each other over few days. To be frank, I enjoy talking with people and introducing my research. However, none of these could compare favorably to solitary. I always spend a lot of time learning and reflecting in solitude. It’s more like a meditation where I could relax and talk with myself.
What are your plans after graduation?
I plan to stay in academia and look for faculty jobs or other research-related jobs.
Hometown (city, country):
Nanyang, China.
Personal Website (if any):
Faculty Advisor:
Prof. Chao Wang.
Kegan Strawn
PhD in Computer Science
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I subscribe to the "next right step" advice. Life can be overwhelming at times, especially during your studies, and focusing on the next right step rather than the entire mountain you are trying to hike up has really helped me every day.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
I come from a family where no one has been in academia and I was not exposed to anything close to it growing up. Research, and even college, felt like this scary gated community that only a certain few could participate in and I'm very grateful to those in my undergraduate studies who helped open the gate for me and showed me that anyone can do this. Don't get me wrong, I have many privileges in my life, but I'm very proud to be here at USC and working hard among some very smart peers every day.
What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months?
Last week I bought an LA Dodgers hat at the game against the Giants. I think this means I can officially say I live here now.
Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it.
I work in multi-robot coordination and collaboration. I'm very interested in how robots can work together with other robots and humans as part of a team to help improve our lives. It's slightly different from the majority of current work that is about training a robot to beat us at a certain game or to replace a job completely. I spend a lot of my time thinking about how we can improve the algorithms they use and the way they learn to work together and I find it incredibly fun and rewarding work.
If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?
I always wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. I love animals and find biology and genetics fascinating. So, I think I still want to be a vet when I finally grow up.
What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC?
If you were to recommend to an incoming student 3 places to go in California/Los Angeles, what would they be?
If they are looking to live somewhere I highly recommend the Culver City area. For things to see, I really like the Getty Center for not only the art but the cool architecture and outdoor garden. I also love cruising up and down the pacific coast highway and going to any of the beaches (although Hermosa beach down south is my favorite). Finally, I'd recommend some Korean BBQ in Koreatown.
What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC?
What's one thing about you that might surprise me?
I only applied to drama colleges for college. I was fully expecting to only ever be in LA for acting, but now I'm here for my Ph.D. working in computer science and robotics. Life has a crazy way of working out!
What are your plans after graduation?
Currently, I am interested in continuing in academia with a postdoctoral position.
Hometown (city, country):
Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Personal Website (if any):
https://sites.google.com/view/
Faculty Advisor:
Professor Nora Ayanian
Kushal Chawla
PhD in Computer Science
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
One should never judge their own or someone else’s decisions based on the outcomes (that is, in hindsight). That’s just unfair! Instead, think about whether the decision made sense, given the situation you were in. If you are in a similar situation again, how can you make a better call?
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
That has to be the network of friends and colleagues that I could build from a variety of professional experiences in both academia and industry. Life is a bit easier with folks you can always turn up to for some advice and of course, for referrals!
What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months?
Minion-shaped slippers with button eyes that move when you walk.
Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it.
I am currently working on enabling human-machine negotiations in natural language such as in English. Think about buyer-seller price negotiations or salary negotiations. Automated systems that negotiate with humans can be really helpful in advancing conversational AI and for teaching social skills to humans. Most practical systems in this space are based on restrictive communication protocols such as a predefined menu of options. Instead, I am trying to incorporate more natural means of communication such as language so that these systems can be more useful in the downstream applications. This area opens up exciting avenues for interdisciplinary research between NLP, Affective Computing, and Psychology. For a glimpse of what I do, here is a TechXplore blog that covers our recent work published at
NAACL-HLT 2021: https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-casino-campsite-based-dialogs-
automatic.html
If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?
A full-time host for grand cultural events! I just love the job and the feel that comes with it! Even now, I grab such opportunities with both hands.
What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC?
First and foremost, my interactions with the lab that I am joining. I would definitely recommend that to all the prospective students. Secondly, the ever-increasing research opportunities and a helpful environment over here at USC. Lastly, it would be unfair if I don’t include this but the nice LA weather was always there at the back of my mind.
If you were to recommend to an incoming student 3 places to go in California/Los Angeles, what would they be?
- Weekend getaway at Big Bear
- Manhattan beach
- Hikes in Malibu
What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC?
I am a part of a religious organization at USC called the Bridges International. In Fall 2019, we went to Big Bear for a weekend, in a group of nearly 30. We rented out two huge houses near the lake, danced and sang songs from different cultures around the globe, and went for a hike! Amazing experience!
What's one thing about you that might surprise me?
I have an OCD of repeatedly checking the locks and always making sure that everything is locked. It is so bad that once, during my undergrad, I preferred to calmly lock my door first, when everyone else was vacating the building due to a strong earthquake. As a side note, I later got to know that my friend ran with a laptop in her hand: the most expensive stuff that she could find in her room. People have weird priorities!
What are your plans after graduation?
I am keeping it wide open for now, although I am slightly inclined towards joining the industry again, given my previous experience as a full-time researcher at Adobe for a couple of years.
Hometown (city, country):
Delhi, India.
Personal Website (if any):
https://kushalchawla.github.io/
Faculty Advisor:
I am jointly advised by Gale Lucas and Jonathan Gratch at ICT, USC.
