CIE100: Common Intellectual Experience - Ice Breaker Reflection (10 Points)

The Assignment

In this reflection, you will introduce yourself by bragging about yourself! Write an approximately 1 page introduction about yourself from a third-person perspective. Essentially, you will write a short biography about yourself in a way that could be posted to LinkedIn, or from the perspective of a popular magazine or newspaper doing a feature about you.

For example, here is my own biography from LinkedIn:

Bill holds the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Drexel University since 2018, 
the M.Sc. in Science of Instruction at the Drexel School of Education since 2008, the M.Sc. 
in Computer Science since 2008, and the B.Sc. in Computer Science since 2005. His research 
interests include machine learning of passive RF wearable systems for biomedical classification, 
service-oriented architectures, and program comprehension through software engineering. Bill is 
enthusiastically active in computer science education and engineering education outreach: he 
holds a teaching certification in Pennsylvania for Grades 7-12 Mathematics and Grades 7-12 
Computer Science, has taught, volunteered, developed experiential curriculum connected to STEM 
research projects, and served as mentor and judge at hackathon events with students in grades 5 
through 12. He has served on school board and county STEM, educational technology, and 
grant-writing committees, as well as in an educational consulting role with County Intermediate 
Units and State Departments of Education. He is a member of the Computer Science Teachers 
Association (CSTA), with collaborators at the CSTA»Philly chapter and board service (since 
2022) at the Longwood chapter.

Bill was appointed as Teaching Professor (2008-2019) and Associate Department Head for 
Undergraduate Affairs (2014-15 through 2019) of Computer Science in the College of Computing 
and Informatics, teaching the systems track and the new architecture track courses for the 
Department of Computer Science, including Operating Systems, Concurrent Programming, and 
Systems Architecture. Here, he blended his research and experiential education interests by 
fusing undergraduate as well as graduate education with classroom and extracurricular research 
initiatives. In these roles, he was a recipient of the 2014 College of Computing and 
Informatics Award for Teaching Excellence and the 2019 College of Computing and Informatics 
Award for Faculty Leadership.

Bill joined the faculty of the Math and Computer Science Department at Ursinus College as an 
Assistant Professor (visiting) in Fall, 2020, and was elevated to Associate Professor in Fall, 
2022. At Ursinus, he is the Founder and Principal Investigator of the Human-Machine Intelligent 
Systems Lab, and the host of the Digital Signature Podcast.

He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and of the Institute of 
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Start by writing a similar paragraph for yourself. If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, consider creating one! This could be your biography. For this reflection assignment, however, I’d like you to re-write it from a new perspective: one that boasts about your accomplishments and that motivates your goals and passions.

Consider this re-written excerpt from my own biography to give you an idea about how to “sell yourself:”

Dr. Mongan's groundbreaking research in machine learning investigates the use of passive RF 
wearable systems for biomedical classification.  His algorithms and software have been 
deployed on numerous biomedical platforms.  But it's not just his research that sets him apart; 
it's his unwavering commitment to education.

Dr. Mongan has mentored, volunteered, and developed innovative STEM curricula for students and 
teachers across Pennsylvania.  He has developed materials and served in classrooms for students 
ranging from grades 5 through 12. He works closely with leadership on school boards, county STEM 
committees, and educational technology initiatives to shape the future of STEM education both 
regionally and nationally.

If it feels “truthful but just a bit exaggerated or amplified” - you’re doing it right! Have fun with it: the goal is to practice writing from a perspective outside of your own. Often, when we write from our own perspective and about our own experiences, we tend to leave out details that we think are trivial or that we think anyone would know. We often forget the complexity of the effort and discoveries that went into a project. Imagine someone on LinkedIn, or a classmate, reading your introduction: how well do you think they would understand what you’re talking about (make sure that you provide enough detail so that they do!).

Submission

In your submission, please include answers to any questions asked on the assignment page in your README file. If you wrote code as part of this assignment, please describe your design, approach, and implementation in your README file as well. Finally, include answers to the following questions:
  • Describe what you did, how you did it, what challenges you encountered, and how you solved them.
  • Please answer any questions found throughout the narrative of this assignment.
  • If collaboration with a buddy was permitted, did you work with a buddy on this assignment? If so, who? If not, do you certify that this submission represents your own original work?
  • Please identify any and all portions of your submission that were not originally written by you (for example, code originally written by your buddy, or anything taken or adapted from a non-classroom resource). It is always OK to use your textbook and instructor notes; however, you are certifying that any portions not designated as coming from an outside person or source are your own original work.
  • Approximately how many hours it took you to finish this assignment (I will not judge you for this at all...I am simply using it to gauge if the assignments are too easy or hard)?
  • Your overall impression of the assignment. Did you love it, hate it, or were you neutral? One word answers are fine, but if you have any suggestions for the future let me know.
  • Using the grading specifications on this page, discuss briefly the grade you would give yourself and why. Discuss each item in the grading specification.
  • Any other concerns that you have. For instance, if you have a bug that you were unable to solve but you made progress, write that here. The more you articulate the problem the more partial credit you will receive (it is fine to leave this blank).

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.