Supporting students and their futures
Meet Vipin Gunda ’25, former Milstein Scholar in Technology & Humanity, Nexus Research Scholar, Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar, and Laidlaw Research Scholar.
What has Cornell made possible for you?
Coming into Cornell, I knew how great the institution was academically, but I didn't know what opportunities to pursue or where exactly I'd be in four years. However, the rich academic culture and opportunities opened my eyes to research. I learned about the diversity of research areas in computer science (and STEM) and how rewarding research can be. As a result, I am pursuing my PhD after graduating from Cornell, which is something that I would've never even considered or imagined coming out of high school.
Tell us about an experience that you love sharing with others.
I was a member of the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity. I loved this experience as it has really guided my Cornell experience. As a freshman, I was able to attend the MStudio events where we had speakers from diverse fields come in and talk about their work, which inspired me to explore as a first-year student. During my sophomore and junior years, I was able to get my research funded through this program and even present my work at the expos and showcases. As a senior, I served as a mentor in the program and helped coordinate some of the events, which has been a great opportunity to connect with first- and second-year students and help support them at Cornell.
Describe an experience that inspired a new focus, path, or goal.
I've been fortunate enough to work with professors like Kavita Bala, Cheng Zhang, Bharath Hariharan, and Karthik Sridharan, along with their respective grad students. Through these people, I've had the chance to explore computer science from computer vision to human-computer interaction to theory. This has helped shape my research interests and given me invaluable experience. It also inspired me to pursue grad school and continue research.
Coming from a low-income family, grad school was never even a consideration for me, as my sole focus was getting into a good undergraduate program. However, the research at Cornell has helped me realize my interest in grad school. While grad school is something that is new for my family, it is something that we deeply welcome. We are grateful to Cornell for helping me find my path beyond my undergraduate years.
Is there a Cornell class that had a significant impact on you?
My favorite class at Cornell has been CS4820: Algorithms. It is one of the harder core courses, so while it was a little scary at first, I soon embraced the class. The material is extremely important for many other areas of computer science (and especially research), and it helps build intuition that translates to problem-solving techniques beyond computer science.
I eventually became a teaching assistant for this class, so I was grateful to help students who were in a similar position to me. In this way, Cornell has given me the opportunity to both take classes and even teach to some extent. Again, this experience is extremely important in my development as I look to pursue a PhD, where I will continue to teach.
Cornell annual funds support transformational student journeys like Vipin's. Learn more about them and the impact of annual fund donors in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
