Esther Lee

Year in School
Junior

Major
Computer Science+Statistics

Research Interests
Artificial Intelligence Data and Information Systems

Research Mentor
Prof. Hari Sundaram

Research/Engagement Experience
Crowd Dynamics Lab ● Visualized hate speech on Twitter timelines by building network graphs with d3.js, using various attributes (node weight, transparency level, hover, weight, color) to emphasize predominantly malicious users ● Pulled 558 distinct Twitter users from feminist journalist Rana Ayyub’s 2021 timeline and displayed with labels provided from sentiment analysis depicting supporters and antagonists to highlight online conflict Security and Privacy ● Investigated how security/privacy is portrayed on 20+ TV transcripts using Gensim libraries for topic modeling, unveiling topics and word associations around security/privacy keywords (“password”, “virus”, “account”, etc.)

Interests
Artificial Intelligence, Data Visualization, Software Engineering

Project Title
TBD

How did I get interested in Computer Science?
I've always been curious about how my favorite games/websites are created. Studying computer science is a way for me to understand the behinds of how they work, as well as create my own projects in the future. I now find each coding assignment like putting together a puzzle!

What social interests matter to me?
Immigration Stresses, Harms of Social Media

What is my most impactful college experience?
Joining Hack4Impact allowed me to branch out into making new connections and work on a coding project with talented and supportive team members. I loved learning new coding languages/frameworks in addition to having community events. The positivity of the group really grew my enjoyment of being in the computer science field.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Laying outside in a soft breeze, playing video/board games, creme brulee matcha at BrewLab, Bee Powerful from Just Bee Acai

Research Description
TBD

Biography
Esther Lee is a sophomore studying Statistics&Computer Science. She is from the suburbs of Chicago. Some of her high school activities includes marching band and bowling. More recently, she has gotten into baking and traveling. Also, Esther values community and hopes to stay connected with peers and mentors even after graduation.