Student News

Varun Shelke and the KPMG Cup

SCI Student and Pitt Business Consulting Team Transform Collaboration into Gold at Fall 2025 KPMG Cup Showcase

“The future belongs to hybrid thinkers who can evaluate technology through a business lens and inform business strategy with technical understanding,” said Varun Shelke, a SCI master's student and the winner of the 2025 Pitt Business KPMG Cup.
graduate posing with their diploma

A Tough but Worthwhile Transformation: First MDS Graduates Reflect on their Journey

Chuck Allias and Taylen Inthisane share their experience earning SCI's newest master's degree, the online Master of Data Science, after being among the program's first graduates in Fall 2025.
Students at the Grace Hopper Conference in 2025

Transforming Futures: Funding Support Sends SCI Students to Undergraduate Conferences

SCI is committed to removing financial barriers for students to attend prestigious conferences to network, learn about research opportunities, and broaden their horizons. In 2025, students attended conferences like AfroTech and the Grace Hopper Celebration.
Women in Cybersecurity cllub members

Pitt's Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Club Creates Spaces for Visibility, Success, and Transformation

Addy Agastheeswaran, a computer science student at SCI, is the co-founder of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS), a new student organization dedicated to creating a supportive community for members to learn, connect, and grow in a field where they are historically underrepresented.
Students in Ecuador

Storytelling meets emerging tech in Pitt’s Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program

In the joint program offered by SCI and the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English, students get hands-on experiences assisting communities through a blend of storytelling and technology. One example is through the Computing Technologies for Cultural Preservation capstone, which sent students to Ecuador to document Ecuadorian Indigenous cultures.
man wearing glasses

ISP Student Wins Magna Cum Laude Science Poster Award at RSNA 2025 for Research on Developing Advanced AI Models for Medical Imaging

ISP PhD Student Zhengbo Zhou received the Magna Cum Laude Science Poster Award for his paper “Long Range History of Prior Mammograms for Breast Cancer Risk Prediction” at the 111th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Photo of a smartphone screen showing various social media app icons

Social Media Algorithms and Toxic Discourse: SCI Researchers Draw Connections in New Study

How do social media algorithms shape discourse, for better or worse? SCI PhD students Ahana Biswas and Alireza Javadian Sabet explore “Toxic Politics and TikTok Engagement in the 2024 U.S. Election” in a recent publication in "Misinformation Review”.
Group photo of the 2025 SCI UBelong students.

Connections from Day One: First-Year Student Shares Experience with SCI UBelong Program

Ishaan Tilva, a first-year computer science major from Columbia, MD, participated in SCI's second annual high school-to-college summer bridge program, this past August. Here, he shares how the program was an impactful start to his Pitt journey, and how it set him up for success as a first-year student.
Jamie and Sophie Allen

Learning That Comes Full Circle: Father/Daughter Duo Connect on SCI Experiences

Jamie Allen (IS ’93), a member of the SCI Board of Visitors, now gets the chance to see his daughter Sophie Allen, a first-year student at SCI, following in his footsteps.
Student presenting to a class.

Making Connections: An Undergraduate’s Path in AI Research

Inspired by the New York Times’ Connections game, César Guerra-Solano (SCI ‘26) proposed adapting the puzzle into a multilingual, culture-specific word grouping game, giving large language models (LLM’s) the task of identifying patterns and generating explanations for their groupings.

Making Waves: A SCI PhD Student Empowers Tech Users with AI Gesture-Control System

Imagine adjusting your earphones’ volume with no buttons or screens, but a simple wave of your hand. Yongjie Yang, a PhD student in computer science at the School of Computing and Information (SCI), made this futuristic vision a reality.

SCI students find success and empowerment through summer internships at iD Tech

One phrase to define students at the School of Computing and Information (SCI) is ‘go-getters’, and as the summer begins, undergraduates like Gina M. Agabegi, Benjamin J. Jackson, and Sarah M. Reyer, are switching gears from to pursue their professional careers.

Pitt Students Empower and Collaborate at Data Science Day 2025

AI researchers, analytics industry leaders, and students across Pittsburgh came together on March 27, Pitt’s second annual Data Science Day, to share the latest innovations in their fields. Through a series of keynote speakers, interactive activities, and poster sessions, attendees were able to both learn from others and share their own research in many unique ways.
SCI students at the Pitt career fair

Pitt’s Spring 2025 Career and Internship Fair Empowering for SCI Students

SCI peer advisors and students gained a sense of empowerment and professional connections at this year's Spring Career Fair.