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Letter From the Editor
Dear reader,
The 2018-2019 academic year has come to a close and so has an exciting chapter in the history of RUCS. We've had the pleasure of working on several really exciting new initiatives. We created the Undergraduate Research Guide and organized several events, including the Undergrad Research Info Session, the UGSRP Social, and the CS Research-A-Thon.
Although putting on events is not the primary mission of a publication, it was tremendously enjoyable and gave all of us a much-needed opportunity to get out of the house, interact with our peers, and have fun. Research is usually portrayed in books and movies as a solitary endeavour. However, in practice, it is often a deeply social activity, from the germination of new ideas, to the logisitics of disseminating findings and acquiring funding.
However, the year was not all fun and games. Our community experienced a tragic loss of life. This event has served to highlight the immense pressure that undergraduate students experience, and the dire need for mental health awareness and treatment options on our campuses. In light of this event, I'd like to dedicate this issue to the students who are no longer with us.
Thanks.
Danya Lette
2018-2019 Editor-in-Chief,
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Our Team
Danya Lette
Editor-in-Chief
Danya is a computer science specialist with an interest in theory. She has an eclectic background, and formerly completed a degree in philosophy at U of T. Danya spends her free time reading novels, eating popcorn, and thinking about thinking.
John Chen
Director of Communications
John is a 4th year CS student at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus. He is a big fan of undergrad research, and educational outreach in CS. He enjoys the twin branches of CS: the theory and the practice; the research conference and the hackathon; the NP reduction and the multithreading software engineering, and dichotomies in general. Outside of CS, his hobbies include chess, military history and board games.
Charlie Chenyu Zhang
Director of Operations
Charlie is a recent CS grad at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus. He enjoys undergrad research and educational outreach in CS. During his time at U of T, he worked on two research projects in the software engineering field. Outside of CS, his hobbies include entrepreneurship and movies.
Emmy Liu
Editor
Emmy is a computer science specialist and cognitive science major at the University of Toronto. In her spare time, she enjoys reading philosophy, gaming, and going on long walks.
Vannie Kopalakrishnan
Editor
Vannie Kopalakrishnan is a 3rd year student at the University of Toronto studying Computer Science and Economics. In her spare time she enjoys writing and exploring new places.
Zakir Chaudry
Events Coordinator
Zakir is a 2nd year student at UofT, majoring in Computer Science. Outside of CS, he enjoys running and traveling.
Stephen Zhao
Team Member
Stephen is a 3rd year computer science student at U of T. He is spending the summer exploring and assisting with machine learning research at the Vector Institute, and hopes to continue with AI research in future graduate studies. Stephen has a varied background: he has a finance degree, worked 3 years in capital markets, been a semi-professional gamer, and been an amateur game designer.
Ida Liu
Team Member
Ida is a third year Math and Statistics student at the University of Toronto. She loves reading about AI algorithms and believes they bring the dry statistics she crammed alive. She has the strange belief that intellectual curiosities have their very own “wavelengths” and those that match up with her own tickles her fancy. She loves to eat and is always looking for people to buy food with her.