Graduate student attends international laureate forum
October 2, 2014
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A doctoral candidate in the computer science and engineering department participated in an international mathematics and computer science laureate forum featuring academic leaders in the fields.
Srishti Srivastava was selected to participate in the second annual Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany. She is one of the 200 applicants chosen from around the world to attend the international forum.
During the week of September 21, Srivastava and other young researchers attended sessions led by winners of the most prestigious awards in mathematics and computer science. They also had the opportunity to share their research ideas with the laureates and receive feedback from experts in their fields. In the evenings, the attendees toured the University of Heidelberg, one of Europe’s oldest universities, and other landmarks as they networked with fellow researchers.
“I was excited to meet the laureates and make new academic connections,” Srivastava said. “In our field, our research grows when we interact with others in the field. It was a good experience.”
Srivastava’s selection for the forum was a three-step process. She was first selected for forum-consideration by the university based on a nomination by her adviser Ioana Banicescu, a computer science professor. Her application was then submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which included her among its recommendations to the forum selection committee that ultimately issued the invitations.
“Srishti’s attendance at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum enhances her ability to pursue high quality research and scholarship in an academic career,” Banicescu said. “She is an outstanding Ph.D. candidate, and I strongly believe she is on her way to distinguishing herself as scholar.”
As a research assistant in the NSF’s High Performance Computing area at Mississippi State, Srivastava’s research focuses on performance modeling and optimization in parallel and distributed computing. Following graduation, she plans to continue her research while teaching at a university as an academic professional.
“I love teaching. My father is an electrical engineering professor in India, so I’ve grown up watching him, and I’ve always wanted to do that,” Srivastava said.
Since she joined the Bulldog family as a graduate student in 2008, Srivastava has received travel scholarships sponsored by Google, Xerox, Microsoft, NSF, and IEEE. She also published articles in refereed conference proceedings, books and peer-reviewed articles. She earned the Outstanding Female Graduate Student scholarship and the Graduate Fellowship Award in the BCoE and was awarded the best paper award at two international conferences.
Srivastava earned a bachelor’s degree in in computer science and engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University in India. She holds a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from Mississippi State.
More information about the Heidelberg Laureate Forum can be found at www.heidelberg-laureate-forum.org.
The Bagley College of Engineering is online at www.bagley.msstate.edu.
By: Erin Boozer