Andrea Chen is putting her computer science degree to good use as a PhD student at Cornell University studying computational biology. The 2024 graduate works on computational simulations about biological systems where social behavior affects the population’s well-being. 

“To build the pipeline for the simulation and data analysis, I work on multiple languages,” said Chen. “When it comes to large scale simulations, I need to do efficiency calculations based on the features of the language and how it handles vector calculation.” 

Chen did a summer research project with Robert Williamson, PhD, assistant professor of computer science and biology, for whom she credits for her start in computational biology.

“After that, I started taking all the research focused classes in both computer science and biology departments … the research course in computer science was generally applicable and definitely helped me preparing for my PhD journey,” said Chen. 

Chen believes one of the advantages of majoring in computer science at Rose are the variety of different subfields a student can explore in four years thanks to the amazing faculties. Another advantage is how much more hands-on experience a Rose student can have compared to students from larger universities, said Chen.

Her experience at Rose also helped her to form one-on-one relationships with her professors. “For every professor that I’ve interacted with, they’re always very supportive and ready to help,” said Chen. “Some of them absolutely left a mark on my life and shaped who I am today.”