Student Profiles

A photo of the student.

Louis Jenkins

Hometown: South Philadelphia, PA

Degree: PhD, 1st year

Program: High-Performance Computing

Research Group:Michael Scott

Why did you pick UR to do your graduate studies?

Years ago when I did a National Science Foundation sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates program at Lehigh University, I worked with Michael F. Spear, a previous PhD student of Michael L. Scott, my current advisor. If it wasn't for Michael Spear, I would not have even considered going to graduate school. It was only thanks to his push that I was able to publish my first paper at a main conference, earned Peer's Choice for Outstanding Project, obtained Honorable Mention for the Computing Research Association's 2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers award, and got my foot in the door for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It only made sense that I also pursue graduate school at the prestigious University of Rochester.

How have you chosen your research area? Has it changed at all since you come to Rochester?

When I first arrived, I knew I would do High-Performance Computing, and I was not wrong. Fine-tuning performance in distributed and parallel computing is a large interest of mine, but I have also gained a new-found appreciation for High-Productivity Computing, which derived from my recent work with the Chapel programming language.

Do you have any thoughts about what you will do after completion of your degree? Do you want to go to academic or industry?

I want to work in a national laboratory, eventually as a director who gets to oversee many interesting projects. I prefer industry, as I prefer investing in technology that will benefit people within 5 years rather than 20.