Illinois
CS @ Illinois
CS @ Illinois
Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Welcome to the CS @ Illinois homepage!

  • Admissions
    • Undergraduate
      • Apply Now
      • Degree & Program Options
      • Application Deadlines
      • Applications Process & Requirements
      • Transfer Students
      • Housing
      • Accreditation
    • Graduate
      • Apply Now
      • Degree & Program Options
      • Application Deadlines
      • Applications Process & Requirements
        • Additional Required Application Materials for International Students
        • Application Process for Current CS @ ILLINOIS Graduate Students
      • Application Checklist
      • FAQs
      • Check Application Status
    • Why CS @ ILLINOIS
    • Explore Courses
    • Student Life
    • Rankings & Statistics
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Financial Aid
    • Tuition & Fees
    • Awards
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate
      • Degree & Program Options
        • B.S. in Computer Science (Engineering)
        • B.S. in Mathematics & Computer Science
        • B.S. in Statistics & Computer Science
        • CS + X Degree Programs
          • Computer Science + Anthropology
          • Computer Science + Astronomy
          • Computer Science + Chemistry
          • Computer Science + Crop Sciences
          • Computer Science + Linguistics
          • Computer Science + Music
          • CS + X FAQ
        • Minor in Computer Science
        • Software Engineering Certificate
      • Registration
        • CS Course Restrictions & Enrollment Caps
      • Undergraduate Advising
      • Policies and Procedures
      • Undergraduate Forms
      • Honors
    • Graduate
      • PhD Program
        • PhD Requirements
        • PhD Time Limits & Milestones
        • PhD Program of Study Process
        • Guidelines for Forming Ph.D. Committee
        • Qualifying Exam
        • Preliminary Exam
        • Final Exam (Thesis Defense)
        • Ph.D. Thesis Format Review Guidelines
      • MS Program
      • MS in Bioinformatics Program
      • Professional MCS Program
        • Professional MCS Degree Requirements
        • Online MCS
          • Online MCS Degree Requirements
        • MCS Data Science Track
          • MCS Data Science Track Requirements
      • Fifth Year Master's Programs
        • 5-year BS-MS Program
        • 5-year BS-MCS Program
      • Non-degree Options
      • Graduate Forms & Advising Resources
      • CS Graduate Student Handbook
    • My.CS
    • Explore Courses
    • Student Life
    • Financial Aid
    • Conduct Research
    • Honor Code
    • Calendar
  • Research
    • Architecture, Compilers, and Parallel Computing
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
    • Computers and Education
    • Database and Information Systems
    • Graphics, Visualization, and HCI
    • Programming Languages, Formal Methods, and Software Engineering
    • Scientific Computing
    • Systems and Networking
    • Theory and Algorithms
    • Corporate Collaborations
  • Student Life
    • Student Organizations
      • Computer Science Student Groups
      • Engineering Student Groups
      • Campus Student Groups
    • Overview of CS Student Life
    • Department, College, and Campus Events
    • Student Resources
    • Career Services
  • Engage
    • Alumni
      • Alumni Awards
      • Stay Connected
      • Give
      • click! Magazine
      • E-newsletter
      • Continuing Education
    • Corporate
      • Recruiting
      • Corporate Connection
      • For Startups
      • Meet Student Groups
      • Senior Design
      • Research Collaboration
    • K-12 Outreach
      • Chic Tech Visits
      • ChicTech Retreat
      • Gems Camp
      • Girls Who Code
      • Hour of Code
      • CS @ ILLINOIS Sail
      • NCWIT Aspirations
      • Parent and Teacher Resources
    • Get Involved
    GET INVOLVED
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Department Faculty
      • Adjunct Faculty
      • Affiliate Faculty
      • Emeritus Faculty
      • Faculty by Area
      • All Faculty
    • Staff
      • Office of the Department Head
      • Advancement Office
      • Undergraduate Advising Office
      • Graduate Advising Office
      • Business Office
      • Faculty Support Contacts
      • Facilities, Shipping and Receiving
  • About Us
    • History Timeline
    • Statistics
    • Awards
      • Faculty Awards
        • National & International Awards
        • Chairs and Professorships
          • Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professorship in Computer Science
          • Abel Bliss Professorship in Engineering
          • Richard T. Cheng Professorship in Computer Science
          • Fulton Watson Copp Chair in Computer Science
          • Michael Faiman Professorship in Computer Science
          • Ralph M. and Catherine V. Fisher Professorship
          • Founder Professor of Engineering
          • Donald B. Gillies Chair in Computer Science
          • Saburo Muroga Professorship in Computer Science
          • Paul and Cynthia Saylor Professorship in Computer Science
          • Thomas M. Siebel Chair in Computer Science
          • Donald Biggar Willett Professorship in Engineering
        • University of Illinois Awards
          • 2017 C.W. Gear Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
      • Undergraduate Scholarships & Awards
      • Graduate Fellowships & Awards
      • Alumni Awards
        • National & International Awards
        • Alumni Awards Past Recipients
        • University of Illinois Awards
      • Staff Awards
    • Accreditation
    • Directions
    • Faculty Positions
    • Staff Positions
  • News
    • Click! Magazine
      • Alumni News Archive
    • Department News
    • E-News
      • E-News Archive
    • Featured Lectures
      • Donald B. Gillies Memorial Lecture
      • Mueller-Thuns Lecture Series
    • Media Coverage
  • Calendar
  • Corporate
    • Recruit at the Campus-Level
    • Recruit in the College of Engineering
    • Recruit in CS and ECE
    • Corporate Connection
    • Startup Corporate Connection
    • Ad Hoc Events
    • Work with CS Student Groups
    • Research Collaborations
    • Contact Us
    • Senior Design
  • Give
    • Give Now
    • Ways to Give
    • Donor Profiles
  • Contact Us
    • Directions to Siebel Center
  • Alumni
    • Join the Conversation
    • Stay Informed
    • Be Recognized
    • Stay Connected
    • Continuing Education and Professional Development
    • Contact the Advancement Team

You are here

Home » News
Accomplished Undergrad Improving People’s Lives

Accomplished Undergrad Improving People’s Lives

Feb 26, 2016 By Laura Schmitt, CS @ ILLINOIS

CS freshman Ananya Cleetus is passionate about applying technology to solve real-world problems and improve people’s lives. Her innovative work with prosthetic limbs has garnered awards and even taken her to a national science fair at the White House.

Cleetus’ interest in assistive technology began several summers ago when she was visiting her grandparents in New Delhi, India, and volunteering with a charitable organization that provides free prosthetics to amputees and polio victims. After seeing how the Jaipur prosthetic foot was manufactured and fitted, Cleetus was inspired to improve the device.

Ananya Cleetus and her father stand beside her display at the White House.
Ananya Cleetus and her father stand beside her display at the White House.

 

She returned home to Pittsburgh with a sample prosthetic, but she soon realized that she needed help.

“I was struggling to find resources at school,” said Cleetus, who resorted to cold calling and emailing faculty at nearby universities. “It got to be a pretty tough process to find someone with the time and resources to help me out.”

She eventually connected with a Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute professor, who provided advice and lab access so Cleetus could experiment with the foot’s design. In the end, she received a patent for an improved prosthetic foot by adding a spring to the ankle joint, enhancing overall flexibility and mobility.

On her own, Cleetus continued to pursue her interest in prosthetics by working on an affordable robotic hand designed for leprosy victims in India. “A lot of people overlook leprosy, but a quarter million cases are reported annually in India alone,” she said. “A lot of people who suffer from it are put into leper colonies and are isolated from society, which makes it even harder for them to get access to medical care.”

Based on open source 3D CAD files for a prosthetic hand designed by InMoov in France, Cleetus developed a cost-effective prototype hand and control mechanism that she 3D printed and programmed herself. “I wrote the code, set up the circuits and overall design, [and] constructed the touch sensor glove,” Cleetus said. She was nominated and selected to present the prosthetic hand project at the annual White House science fair in May 2014—one of only 32 students nationwide.

“That was an incredible experience,” said Cleetus, who met President Obama, as well as some of her science idols, including TV star and educator Bill Nye the Science Guy and Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and founder of the FIRST Robotics competition.

Realizing that she probably wasn’t alone in trying to find experienced scientific guidance earlier in her endeavors, Cleetus and another student founded a company to match aspiring young inventors with mentors at universities and in industry—a LinkedIn-type site for high school students called Magikstra.

“The whole point of my startup was to help ease the transition for students getting into the business and research worlds,” said Cleetus, who won the 2015 Startup Entrepreneur Award sponsored by the Carnegie Science Center.

Today, Cleetus continues to work on the robotic hand by improving its grip and designing her own circuit board controller, which she believes could reduce the hand’s costs. She’s active in her residence hall’s innovation learning community, a couple ACM Special Interest Groups, the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, and the Women in CS tech team. She’s also competing in the Cozad New Venture Competition sponsored by the Technology Entrepreneur Center on campus. In the future, she aims to conduct research on soft robotics.

According to Cleetus, she’s pleased with her CS @ ILLINOIS experience so far. “I really like the fact that even though Illinois has a very competitive engineering program, it’s also a very open, relaxed environment.”

  • ← Older
  • Newer →
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Research
  • Student Life
  • Engage
  • People
  • About Us
  • News
    • Click! Magazine
    • Department News
    • E-News
    • Featured Lectures
    • Media Coverage
  • Calendar
  • Corporate
  • Give
  • Contact Us
  • Alumni
Department of Computer Science
Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science
201 North Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801-2302
ph: 217-333-3426 (general) | 217-333-4428 (advising) 
fax: 217-333-3501
General email: admin@cs.illinois.edu
Academic/Advising email: academic@cs.illinois.edu
Webmaster: engrit-web@illinois.edu
 
150 IllinoisEngineering at Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Copyright 2018 The Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois
Privacy policy | Engineering Cookie Policy
CS is centrally located and close to regional travel options
  • About
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Corporate
  • Alumni
  • Store
  • Give
  • Contact
  • My.CS
Follow Us on Facebook
Follow Us on Twiitter
Follow Us on Youtube
Follow Us on LinkedIn
Follow Us on Instragram
Scroll to Top