Tengyang Xie comes to UW–Madison from a postdoctoral position at Microsoft Research, New England and New York City Lab. His research goal is “to unlock seemingly impossible capabilities through reinforcement learning.” Surprised by the amount of snow on his first visit to campus, Xie looks forward to exploring winter activities on the frozen lakes! Hometown: …

Sandeep Silwal joins the Computer Sciences department after completing his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He works on algorithm design and first became interested in college when he “was hooked by how really cool and diverse mathematical ideas were used to tackle problems related to computing.” He hopes that for students in …

"A pervasive theme that threads through all of my research initiatives centers on harnessing 'signals of opportunity.'”

Manolis Vlatakis comes to UW–Madison from a postdoctoral research position at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at University of California—Berkeley after earning his PhD at Columbia University. At UW–Madison he will focus on algorithm analysis, optimization, game theory, dynamical systems, and quantum computing. Of UW–Madison he says, “From the moment I set …

“I realized that there are many open mysteries in the universe waiting to be solved and, importantly, I could be a part of solving them,” says Karcheski.

As part of the College of Letters & Science’s LASER program, a CS undergraduate spent the summer observing Venus through work that redefines what research means to them.

"This opportunity helped solidify my interest in data science and analytics. Overall, I had a great experience at MGE and have gained some valuable skills and insight that I hope to apply in my future jobs,” says Jain.

In her role she will create a welcoming space for CDIS students and coordinate learning support programs including tutoring, peer mentorship, and Wisconsin Emerging Scholars.