Ayla Zhang will join our research group this summer through the NYU GSTEM program. NYU GSTEM is a summer program for high school juniors that allows them to participate in research laboratories. The NYU Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences offers the program and helps promote STEM to traditionally underrepresented groups, particularly females and minorities. Ayla will be working on a programming language project as part of our funded NSF project on combating technical debt in Machine Learning systems‘ broader impacts.

Ayla Zhang is a rising senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. She is interested in computer science and computational biology. Her recent research explores the use of AI in prioritizing therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer treatment. Beyond the lab, she is passionate about mentoring elementary and middle school students in STEM and advocating for gender equity in science and education. In her free time, Ayla enjoys playing soccer, reading, and going to concerts.