Supporting the SPIN Program at NCSA
Note: 2025 SPIN Fiddler awardees will be identified and announced in late September
- 2024 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
- 2023 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
- 2022 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
- 2024 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
- 2023 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
- 2022 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
- NCSA Fiddler Fellowship Undergraduate Fellowship Awards
- NCSA Fiddler Fellowship Graduate Fellowship Awardees
- NCSA Fiddler Fellowship Faculty Fellow Awardees
2024 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
Ray Xu
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Understanding reading development: behavioral and computational approaches
Mentor: Anastasia Stoops
Arnav Shah
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: FocusFlow: Leveraging Visual Depth for Gaze Interaction in Virtual Reality
Mentor: Elahe Soltanaghai
Zaeem Qureshi
Home Department: Bioengineering
Project: Modeling of the Complex Environment of the Cell
Mentor: Taras Pogorelov
Note: NCSA Director’s Recognition Letter
Rui Zhou
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Large-scale quantification of ecosystem productivity through machine learning and multi-source satellite data
Mentor: Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang
Zhiju Lu
Home Department: Computer Science & Astronomy
Project: Detection of agricultural management practices through novel machine learning and satellite data
Mentor: Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang
Jakub Sowa
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Network Instrument: Measuring PQC Adoption Rates and Identifying Migration Pathways
Mentor: Phuong Cao
2023 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
Pooja Tetali
Home Department: Statistics and Computer Science
Project: A Machine Learning and Geospatial Approach to Targeting Humanitarian Assistance Among Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Mentor: Dr. Angela Lyons, Dr. Aiman Soliman, Alejandro Montoya Castano, PhD student, and Yifang Zhang
Chenhui Zhang
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Cross-scale Sensing and Deep Learning for Sustainable Agriculture
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
Xiaojun Jia
Home Department: Mathematics
Project: Hyperspectral Sensing and Machine Learning for Crop Monitoring
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
Zhiju Lu
Home Department: Computer Science & Astronomy
Project: Artificial Intelligence Empowered Satellite Sensing for the US Inland Water Quality Monitoring
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
2022 SPIN Fiddler Awardees
Joe Luo
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Sonification of Electron Density Data
Mentor: Andre Schleife
Boda Song
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Adaptation of a Stochastic Agent-Based-Model Simulation Platform to Evaluate COVID-19 Control Measures
Mentor: Santiago Nunez-Corrales
Xinyi Huang
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Adaptation of a Stochastic Agent-Based-Model Simulation Platform to Evaluate COVID-19 Control Measures
Mentor: Santiago Nunez-Corrales
Yiwen Miao
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Tallying AVL’s Planetarium Viewer Counts
Mentor: Kalina Borkiewicz
Joshmita Chintala
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Web-Interface for Atmospheric Chemistry Simulations
Mentor: Nicole Riemer
Shane Wu
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Web-Interface for Atmospheric Chemistry Simulations
Mentor: Nicole Riemer
Chenhui Zhang
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Using Hyperspectral Data for Large-Scale Agroecosystem Monitoring
Mentors: Kaiyu Guan and Sheng Wang
Jared Canty
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Analyzing and Visualizing Linguistic Variation in Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers
Mentors: Silvina Montrul and David Dubin
Benjamin Evanoff
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Analyzing and Visualizing Linguistic Variation in Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers
Mentors: Silvina Montrul and David Dubin
Anushka Gami
Home Department: SPIN intern
Project: Quantifying the Effectiveness of Scientific Documentaries Using Natural Language Processing
Mentor: Jill Naiman
2024 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
Students recognized for their contributions during AY 2023-24 and Summer 2024
Madison Van
Home Department: Information Sciences
Project: Transportation project: creating more accessible transportation for the C-U community
Mentor: Partnered with Mass Transit District
Yifei (Ray) Xu
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Understanding reading development: behavioral and computational approaches
Mentor: Anastasia Stoops
Bharathi Chonachalam
Home Department: Finance and Data Science
Project: Champaign-Urbana Community: Exploring the University’s outreach to local high schools
Arnav Shah
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: FocusFlow: Leveraging Visual Depth for Gaze Interaction in Virtual Reality
Mentor: Elahe Soltanaghai
Zaeem Qureshi
Home Department: Bioengineering
Project: Modeling of the Complex Environment of the Cell
Mentor: Taras Pogorelov
Note: NCSA Director’s Recognition Letter
Rui Zhou
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Large-scale quantification of ecosystem productivity through machine learning and multi-source satellite data
Mentor: Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang
Zhiju (David) Lu
Home Department: Computer Science & Astronomy
Project: Detection of agricultural management practices through novel machine learning and satellite data
Mentor: Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang
Jakub Sowa
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Network Instrument: Measuring PQC Adoption Rates and Identifying Migration Pathways
Mentor: Phuong Cao
Rhea Khadye
Home Department: Sustainable Design
Project: Student Resources: Addressing underemployment in dining hall and housing sectors on campus
Mentor: Partnered with University Housing
Alisha Daga
Home Department: Systems Engineering and Design
Project: Transportation project: creating more accessible transportation for the C-U community
Mentor: Partnered with Mass Transit District
Kymira Parker
Home Department: Industrial Design
Project: Environmental Sustainability
Kendall Murphy
Home Department: Architecture
Project: Student Resources: Addressing underemployment in dining hall and housing sectors on campus
Mentor: Partnered with Bambie Roy and Kim Hamilton at the UIUC Office of Financial Aid
Sophie Meade
Home Department: School of Earth, Society and Environment in the College of LAS
Project: Champaign-Urbana Community: Exploring the University’s outreach to local high schools
2023 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
Students recognized for their contributions during AY 2022-23
Pooja Tetali
Home Department: Statistics and Computer Science
Project: A Machine Learning and Geospatial Approach to Targeting Humanitarian Assistance Among Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Mentor: Dr. Angela Lyons, Dr. Aiman Soliman, Alejandro Montoya Castano, PhD student, and Yifang Zhang
Kaitlin Skurnak
Home Department: Systems Engineering and Design
Project: Champaign County Forest Preserve District
Evan Rafol
Home Department: Systems Engineering and Design
Project: the AMBUCS project
Sara Kiel
Home Department: Anthropology
Project: “Would You Look at That?”
Claudia Roble
Home Department: Information Sciences
Project: “Would You Look at That?”
Xiaojun (Alison) Jia
Home Department: Mathematics
Project: Hyperspectral Sensing and Machine Learning for Crop Monitoring
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
Zhiju (David) Lu
Home Department: Computer Science & Astronomy
Project: Artificial Intelligence Empowered Satellite Sensing for the US Inland Water Quality Monitoring
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
Chenhui Zhang
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Cross-scale Sensing and Deep Learning for Sustainable Agriculture
Mentor: Drs. Kaiyu Guan & Sheng Wang
2022 Fiddler Innovation Student Fellowship Awardees
Students recognized for their contributions during AY 2021-22
Morgan Cosillo
Home Department: REU FoDOMMaT Fellow
Project: Translating Optical Character Recognition Text to Words with the Reading Time Machine Project
Mentor: Dr. Jill Naiman
Aaron Alberg
Home Department: VP of Operations, Design for America
Project: Spearheads multiple efforts to restructure the way DFA is organized so that projects are conducted effectively and thoroughly while keeping members involved and on track
Ella Dennis
Home Department: Director of Professional Outreach, Design for America
Project: Spearheaded extensive planning and development of internal and external events for DFA organization
Aayush Patel
Home Department: VP of Operations, Design for America
Project: Project Lead, Jane’s Walk Tours
Jaden Ambrocio
Home Department: Design for America
Project: a) DFA studio’s Racism Untaught and b) DFA nationals project for Discover Financial Services
Sonia Neelangatil
Home Department: Design for America
Project: Future of Urbana
Mahir Thakkar
Home Department: Design for America
Project: Discover Financial Service
Tanisha Gajjar
Home Department: Design for America
Project: Discover Financial Service
Tej Parmar
Home Department: Design for America
Project: Discover Financial Service
Joe Luo
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Sonification of Electron Density Data
Mentor: Andre Schleife
Yiwen Miao
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Tallying AVL’s Planetarium Viewer Counts
Mentor: Kalina Borkiewicz
Chenhui Zhang
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Using Hyperspectral Data for Large-Scale Agroecosystem Monitoring
Mentors: Kaiyu Guan and Sheng Wang
Jared Canty
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Analyzing and Visualizing Linguistic Variation in Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers
Mentors: Silvina Montrul and David Dubin
Benjamin Evanoff
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Analyzing and Visualizing Linguistic Variation in Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers
Mentors: Silvina Montrul and David Dubin
Joshmita Chintala
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Web-Interface for Atmospheric Chemistry Simulations
Mentor: Nicole Riemer
Shane Wu
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Web-Interface for Atmospheric Chemistry Simulations
Mentor: Nicole Riemer
Xinyi Huang
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Adaptation of a Stochastic Agent-Based-Model Simulation Platform to Evaluate COVID-19 Control Measures
Mentor: Santiago Nunez-Corrales
Boda Song
Home Department: SPIN Intern
Project: Adaptation of a Stochastic Agent-Based-Model Simulation Platform to Evaluate COVID-19 Control Measures
Mentor: Santiago Nunez-Corrales
Anushka Gami
Home Department: SPIN intern
Project: Quantifying the Effectiveness of Scientific Documentaries Using Natural Language Processing
Mentor: Jill Naiman
NCSA Fiddler Fellowship Undergraduate Fellowship Awards
Haihley Connors
Home Department: Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Project: Breast Cancer Disparities
Mentor: Zeynep Madak-Erdogan
Note: Finished 2021 Summer REU INCLUSION with a distinction, NCSA Director‘s letter of recognition
Jiho Alexa Park
Home Department: Mechanical Engineering
Project: Breastfeeding Application
Mentors: Design for America
Note: iho is a recipient of the 2020 Fiddler Innovation Fellowship award for her work on the Menstrual Inequity in the United States
Ella Dennis
Home Department: Psychology and English
Project: Breastfeeding Application
Mentors: Design for America
Note: Ella is also a winner of the 2021 Social Hack Fiddler essay
Jay Reiter
Home Department: Math and Computer Science
Project: Breastfeeding Application
Mentors: Design for America
Saaniya Kapur
Home Department: Computer Engineering
Project: Breastfeeding Application
Mentors: Design for America
Elena Escobar
Home Department: Technical Systems Management
Project: Map the System
Mentors: Design for America
Rohini Sharma
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Racism Untaught
Mentors: Design for America
Quentin Herzig
Home Department: Crop Sciences: Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology and Minor: Computer Science
Project: Visual Analytics Group 3D biological network visualization
Mentors: Dr. Donna Cox, Ms. Kalina Borkiewicz, Dr. Charles Blatti
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Zhili Luo
Home Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Project: Virtual reality and ray tracing for materials science data visualization
Mentor: Prof. Andre Schleife
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Parth Tyagi
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: On-the fly data generation for neural network based gravitational wave detection
Mentors: Dr. Eliu Huerta and Dr. Roland Haas
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Nikil Ravi
Home Department: Mathematics and Computer Science
Project: Convergence of physics-inspired AI and extreme scale computing for multi-messenger astrophysics
Mentors: Dr. Eliu Huerta
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Yihong Jian
Home Department: Computer Science
Project: Using satellite data for large-scale crop monitoring
Mentors: Dr. Kaiyu Guan
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Yufeng Liu
Home Department: Physics
Project: Meeting the LSST Data Challenge: Galaxy detection and segmentation with deep learning
Mentors: Prof. Xin Liu
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director ‘s letter of recognition
Miah (Alistair) Nunn
Home Department: Information Science
Project: Natural language processing
Mentors: Dr. Jill Naiman
Haolin Luo
Home Department: Biology
Project: Modeling of the complex environment of the cell
Mentors: Dr. Taras Pogorelov
Note: Haolin received Jackson Summer Fellowship from the Department of Biochemistry, UIUC.
Note: Finished 2021 Summer SPIN with a distinction, NCSA Director’s letter of recognition
Andrew Sunwoo Lee
Home Department: Chemistry
Project: Multiscale modeling of the cell membrane-associated phenomena
Mentors: Dr. Taras Pogorelov
NCSA Fiddler Fellowship Graduate Fellowship Awardees
Priyam Mazumdar
Home Department: ECE
Project: Practical Machine Learning Training
Mentor: Volodymyr Kindratenko
Jorge Rojas-Alvarez
Home Department: Institute of Communications Research in the College of Media
Project: Community Data Clinic
Mentor: Anita Say Chan
Jake Metz
Home Department: iSchool
Project: Introducing IMMERSE at NCSA: Creative Computing as a Sandbox
Mentor: John Toenjes, Stephen Taylor, Jason Finkelman
