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Middlebury

News & Events

Summer 2019

Welcome to our new colleagues Catherine Miller and Robert Lichenstein

Catherine and Robert are the new ASIs (Assistants in Instruction) in our department.

Catherine Miller

I studied aerospace engineering and physics for my undergraduate degrees at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. For my graduate work at MIT, I did experimental research on the fundamental physics of ion electrospray thrusters, which is a new type of space propulsion technology. I am a life-long learner and I love to teach, which is why I am so excited to join the Middlebury Computer Science Department as an ASI. Working closely with students brings joy to my days and I am very much looking forward to working with many of you this fall! I also have a passion for wellness, particularly in improving mental well-being using techniques such as meditation and yoga. I hope to be a resource for reducing stress during the busy semesters! I also enjoy hiking, snowboarding, trying new vegan recipes, reading, and wildlife photography.

Robert Lichenstein '19

I just finished my degree in Computer Science here at Middlebury and am excited to come back for more! I am an Alabama native but after acclimating to the weather here I find it too beautiful to leave. I am looking forward to helping the department flourish in its new building and being able to give back to my peers over the coming year.
In my tenure at Middlebury I dedicated a lot of time to the college radio station WRMC 91.1FM, so if I’m not in my office, tune in and perhaps you can find me. I also enjoy cooking vegan food, playing games, and spending my time in the VT outdoors.

Spring 2019

Welcome to our new colleague Philip Caplan

After receiving my bachelor’s degree from McGill University, I did my graduate work in aerospace engineering at MIT where I studied techniques for four-dimensional mesh generation to get accurate answers to unsteady three-dimensional problems. This has applications in the design of aircraft that are subjected to time-dependent flow features. I draw a lot of my inspiration for meshing from computer graphics where meshes are also used in animation, rendering and geometry representations.

I’m excited to join Middlebury to teach and continue researching these meshing techniques but also to explore some of my other passions, ranging from sports (hockey, tennis, weightlifting, skiing) to baking bread and drumming. I’m also really excited to be closer to my family in Montréal!

Middlebury joint
CS-music major
Fiona Sullivan '19
wins Watson
Fellowship

Midd @ WECode

14 female Middlebury CS students attended WECode 2019 at Harvard University on Feb 22-24, 2019!

Summer 2018

Welcome to our new colleague Andrea Vaccari

Andrea Vaccari

Before falling in love with image processing while at the Virginia Image and Video Analysis (VIVA) laboratory at the University of Virginia first as PhD student and then as research scientist, I spent 14 years at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) working on many different aspects of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). I started there in 1998 after having obtained my MS in Physics from the Università degli Studi di Milano in 1996.
Now my research focuses on model-based analysis of images, stack of images, videos and spatiotemporal point cloud datasets. My goal is to provide detection, tracking, and analysis of “objects” or “events” within these large datasets, extract and analyze their most important features, and achieve a better understanding of their behavior. I especially love to play with biomedical and biological as well as remote sensing imagery, although I find intriguing any problem that deals with images or videos.
If I am not staring at some images on my screen, you can probably find me chilling while listening to electronic music, cooking delicious Italian food, or exploring escape rooms… Now that I’m in Vermont, I’m looking forward to hitting the slopes again!

Spring 2018

CS majors Leo McElroy and Tina Chen win Watson Fellowships

Midd @ WECode

Middlebury CS students at WECode 2018

24 female Middlebury CS students attended WECode 2018 at Harvard University on March 2-4, 2018!

Fall 2017

CS major MJ Pascual '19 wins Google 'Women Techmakers' fellowship

CS major Dylan Quenneville '18 presents paper at ICIP conference in China 

STEAM Girls outreach project by CS major Joy Wood '17 in the news

Summer 2017

Welcome to our new colleagues

Welcome to our new colleagues Jason Grant and Shelby Kimmel!

Jason Grant

Large crowds, especially at sporting events and mega-concerts, pose huge risks to event organizers and safety personnel. My research focuses on detection of dangerous and abnormal crowd behavior using computer vision techniques. I also have conducted research in the area of face recognition, including the study of identical twins and hierarchical structure of facial features (gender, ethnicity, and race).
Previously to joining Middlebury, I conducted my graduate work in the Computer Vision Research Lab at the University of Notre Dame and earned my Bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Outside of work, I enjoy both indoor and outdoor recreation, such as running, biking, playing basketball, and weightlifting. I like to cook some, but I enjoy eating more! When I am not doing any of the other aforementioned things, I am likely at the piano, working on something gospel, classical, jazz, or pop.

Shelby Kimmel

I study quantum computers, which take advantage of the laws governing small physical systems in order to solve computational problems. I design algorithms for quantum computers and try to prove that their performance is better than comparable algorithms on standard computers. I also create efficient and accurate ways of characterizing errors in experimental quantum computers.
I did my thesis work at MIT, postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland, and my undergrad studies at Williams College. I also like to cook (especially Korean food - I make a mean kimchi), play the accordion, and do things outdoors, like hiking, biking, and x-country skiing.

Spring 2017

Middlebury CS students win prizes

Our programming contest team (Nick Mosier '20, Crystal Paudyal '19, and Dylan Quenneville '18) won 3rd place among 32 teams who participated in the CCSCNE programming contest on April 7, 2017.  At the same conference, Dylan also won 2nd place in the undergraduate poster competition.