Summer Research Program Lunch and Learn: Developing your Professional Persona - Fernando Granha Jeronimo, Mashfiqui Rabbi and Jule Schatz 07072026

This session will address the dos and don'ts of building a professional image. Topics will include web presence (personal pages and social media), professional communication skills (email, etc.) and behavior. How to be a good collaborator and citizen, polite and respectful treatment of cultural differences, how to be an advocate or ally when you observe disrespectful behavior.

Speakers:

Mashfiqui Rabbi
Mashfiqui Rabbi is an assistant research professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science. Previously he was a senior research scientist at Optum AI under UnitedHealth Group, the largest payer and one of the largest providers in US healthcare. Before Optum, Mashfiqui was a research scientist at Apple Health AI and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, where he worked with Professor Susan Murphy. Before his postdoc, he received a Ph.D. in Information Science from Cornell University. His Ph.D. advisor was Professor Tanzeem Choudhury. Mashfiqui's Ph.D. thesis led to the creation of the MyBehavior app, the first mobile recommender system to automatically generate personalized physical activity and food suggestions from mobile phone data. In his postdoc at Harvard, Mashfiqui created the first just-in-time intervention for improving health app engagement. This engagement intervention was later adopted by multiple NIH-funded grants focusing on youth substance abuse, cancer rehabilitation, and sickle cell disease. Mashfiqui also helped establish the AI-based intervention group at Apple's Health AI team, and his sub-goal app was adopted for the customized plan feature in Apple's Fitness+ app, which is currently used by millions of iPhone users. Mashfiqui's work has also been featured in MIT Technology Review, New Scientist, the Economist, Mashable, and the NY Times.

Fernando Granha Jeronimo
My research is in theoretical computer science (TCS), mainly involving:

• Coding Theory
• Expanders and High-dimensional Expanders
• Optimization, such as the Sum-of-Squares hierarchy
• Quantum Computing

Interactions among these areas are very present in my research. In particular, I love expansion (broadly defined) since it provides an amazing lens to explore and understand phenomena in all the above areas. I am also particularly intrigued by the many connections between CS theory and mathematics. Glimpses on some of my interests in coding theory and expanders can be found in short talks at IAS here and here.

I am looking to continuously grow my research group over the years. Motivated students are encouraged to apply to our graduate programs.

Jule Schatz
My name is Jule Schatz (she/her) pronounced you-la shots.  I love teaching and mentoring students in introductory computer science. My goal is to help every student feel welcomed, capable, and supported in their exploration of the field.