Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2015, Page 11

Description:	SENIOR RESEARCHESDATA VISUALIZATIONSelf-taught by MIT Open Courses, senior Scott Emmons took an internship in computer science.by Sophie ClampittSenior Scott Emmons stopped running cross country in thespring of his sophomore year to take online computer scienceclasses from MITs open courses. Emmons now interns for theCyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center at IU.I think it (computer science) is really interesting, so I wanted to internwith computer science professor Katy Borner, Emmons said.The lab he works at develops, teaches and researchessoftware data visualization. Emmons has researched and taughtpeople how to use the technology and helped review and editthe textbook that goes along with the course. Because computerscience is always developing, there are no answers andEmmons had to answer questions on his own.It was like being thrown into a pool and not being told howto swim, and you figure it out as you go along. So youre notdoing perfect, but youre not drowning, Emmons said.Emmons collaborated by email and phone with StephenKobourov, the professor for the Cyberinfrastucture NetworkScience Center at the University of Arizona. To get a better feelfor the lab in Arizona, Emmons had the opportunity to live inTucson.I was able to work closer with some of the people there andwork with problems, Emmons said.He lived in a small one-room house by himself. He had a bikethat the professor loaned to him and he biked three miles to andfrom the lab. Before he lived on his own, Emmons had nevergotten groceries or cooked. Yet in the evenings he would do justthat as well. On the weekends he had more free time andwould go to bookstores and even a University of Arizonabasketball game.Emmons was responsible for getting work done on his own. Attimes this was difficult for Emmons because he wanted moresupport, but people didnt always know how to answerquestions. He had to research and figure things out on his own.It was a unique experience, not at all like high school, he said.\ 11
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7920
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

Further information on this record can be found at its source.