Athena Zheng

Year in School
Junior

Major
Computer Science

Research Interests
Interactive Computing

Research Mentor
Prof. Eric Shaffer

Research/Engagement Experience
I currently work with Professor Shaffer on image processing related research; we are looking at automating the detection of fraudulent western blot images. Through CS STARS, I have also learned more about research on robotics/motion planning and computer vision/motion prediction models.

Interests
Computer graphics, computer vision

Project Title
Automated Forgery Detection for Western Blot Images

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
In middle school, I loved combining art and code in Scratch, leading to my involvement in robotics, Girls Who Code, and computing activities throughout high school. As a high school junior, I enjoyed the prospect of becoming an engineer, but didn't realize CS was my thing until the end of the summer right before senior year.

What social interests matter to me?
Ensuring that anyone regardless of background and culture feels comfortable and confident in pursuing their interests.

What is my most impactful college experience?
Being able to interact with and get to know a diverse group of people across various majors throughout my classes.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Piano, drawing, watching figure skating, playing DnD + video games as well as cooking with friends

Research Description
Scientific images are commonly used to support findings for life science research, however, with the rise of the usage of digital image editing software comes an increase in publications with images that were manipulated for the sake of results. The potentially fraudulent images of Western blot data used in a prominent 2006 Alzheimer’s study published in Nature prompted us to develop an automated fabrication detection tool for published scientific images. Our project results will then be visualized on the web using Python, Dash and Plot.ly.

Biography
Athena Zheng is a junior studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in computer science and minoring in music. She is an Illinois native, born in Chicago and raised in the suburbs. She is interested in learning more about computer graphics and computer vision-related research topics.