Welcome to my website. This website details my summer research experience through The Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates(DREU) in Drexel University, Philadelphia. My name is Ritika Jhangiani, and I am between my sophomore and junior year's summer at the College of Saint Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota.My mentor at Drexel University is Proffesor Yuanfang Cai, whose main research focus is software engineering.You can read more about my experience by clicking on any of the tabs above. Feel free to write to me if you have any questions at rjhangia@css.edu
I have just finished my sophomore year at Computer Information Systems department at The College of Saint Scholastica, at Duluth, Minnesota. I am majoring in Computer Science, with concentrations in Management and Mathematics. I plan on graduating in May 2011. I work at the Computer Help Desk at my college, as a laboratory technology assistant, and help fix people's computers. I am also a tutor for java programming.
The child of a Sindhi father and a Punjabi mother (two varied communities of India), one could argue that I’ve been surrounded by diversity my whole life. Our family diversity is frequently manifested in foods such as Punjabi curry with Sindhi pappad. My background, however, goes beyond food. We celebrate Teej (A festival of the Sindhis) in August and Karva Chaut(a festival for the Punjabis) in November. Being biracial has given me a unique understanding and appreciation of different cultures.
I am a team person. I like people, I like to interact, share ideas, learn & improve. I have been able to generally get along with any group, which has always helped me to perform better. I am analytical & focused. This has been very helpful to me in performing timely tasks. I can quickly analyze a situation logically & decide. Efficiency, co-operation & humility are my strengths. I hail from a country of cultural diversity, a culture known for hospitality & community living. My traditional society through the centuries of assimilations with various cultures now is on a threshold of embracing a global culture with it’s ancient wisdom. I come from Mumbai where the cross section of society reflects the true diversity of the Indian Culture. Living in a vibrant cosmopolitan metropolis like Mumbai with such diversity has necessarily cultivated in me patience & the ability of interacting with people from different class & strata. In the process it has offered me fluency in two languages & working ability in 2 more languages. Coming to the Unite States on a 90% scholarship, has given me the opportunity to live in another very different, yet similar, culture, and discover different aspects of my personality.
From the very beginning, I have loved reading. Standing in the library I can see glimpses of my life flitting between the dog-eared pages around me. I enjoy reading; because every book gives me a unique insight into this world we live in and teaches me an invaluable lesson of life. This childhood passion has gradually led me to love languages and all sorts of literature ranging from Classics and modern fiction.My love of science allied with my penchant for languages has helped me chose my major as computer science where I can not only study new computer languages and words but also form by own words. Words have lives, and when you throw them together in sentences and paragraphs and pages, they form communities and cultures, all of which have personalities and flavors every bit as real to me as actual cities and towns. Just as composing a sentence in English requires finding the exact arrangement of syllables, tones, and definitions to convey my intended meaning, writing code in a programming language requires finding the exact arrangement of commands, controls, and structures to meet my purpose. Both cases are similar to one of those big pictures that are made up of hundreds of smaller pictures, where the parts of each individual picture have to be just so in order for the super-picture to form correctly.
Although I am focusing on computer science, I am also exploring my interests in business, mathematics, literature, and cultural diversity through the varied liberal arts program of Saint Scholastica. I hope to expand my interests through the DREU research program, by applying my current knowledge in order to discover new horizons.
I have just finished my sophomore year at Computer Information Systems department at The College of Saint Scholastica, at Duluth, Minnesota. I am majoring in Computer Science, with concentrations in Management and Mathematics. I plan on graduating in May 2011. I work at the Computer Help Desk at my college, as a laboratory technology assistant, and help fix people's computers. I am also a tutor for java programming.
The child of a Sindhi father and a Punjabi mother (two varied communities of India), one could argue that I’ve been surrounded by diversity my whole life. Our family diversity is frequently manifested in foods such as Punjabi curry with Sindhi pappad. My background, however, goes beyond food. We celebrate Teej (A festival of the Sindhis) in August and Karva Chaut(a festival for the Punjabis) in November. Being biracial has given me a unique understanding and appreciation of different cultures.
I am a team person. I like people, I like to interact, share ideas, learn & improve. I have been able to generally get along with any group, which has always helped me to perform better. I am analytical & focused. This has been very helpful to me in performing timely tasks. I can quickly analyze a situation logically & decide. Efficiency, co-operation & humility are my strengths. I hail from a country of cultural diversity, a culture known for hospitality & community living. My traditional society through the centuries of assimilations with various cultures now is on a threshold of embracing a global culture with it’s ancient wisdom. I come from Mumbai where the cross section of society reflects the true diversity of the Indian Culture. Living in a vibrant cosmopolitan metropolis like Mumbai with such diversity has necessarily cultivated in me patience & the ability of interacting with people from different class & strata. In the process it has offered me fluency in two languages & working ability in 2 more languages. Coming to the Unite States on a 90% scholarship, has given me the opportunity to live in another very different, yet similar, culture, and discover different aspects of my personality.
From the very beginning, I have loved reading. Standing in the library I can see glimpses of my life flitting between the dog-eared pages around me. I enjoy reading; because every book gives me a unique insight into this world we live in and teaches me an invaluable lesson of life. This childhood passion has gradually led me to love languages and all sorts of literature ranging from Classics and modern fiction.My love of science allied with my penchant for languages has helped me chose my major as computer science where I can not only study new computer languages and words but also form by own words. Words have lives, and when you throw them together in sentences and paragraphs and pages, they form communities and cultures, all of which have personalities and flavors every bit as real to me as actual cities and towns. Just as composing a sentence in English requires finding the exact arrangement of syllables, tones, and definitions to convey my intended meaning, writing code in a programming language requires finding the exact arrangement of commands, controls, and structures to meet my purpose. Both cases are similar to one of those big pictures that are made up of hundreds of smaller pictures, where the parts of each individual picture have to be just so in order for the super-picture to form correctly.
Although I am focusing on computer science, I am also exploring my interests in business, mathematics, literature, and cultural diversity through the varied liberal arts program of Saint Scholastica. I hope to expand my interests through the DREU research program, by applying my current knowledge in order to discover new horizons.