Based on graphs, an area of applied mathematics in computing that studies the relationships between objects in a given set, it is possible to analyze how communities form, connect, and interact with other groups. This knowledge is fundamental for the operation of social networks and the recommendation systems of streaming entertainment platforms, being crucial for different areas of activity.

 

Graph analysis can be applied to sociological research, computational biology, and even traffic data analysis. However, not all researchers and professionals who can benefit from this data have programming knowledge to access it.

 

It was to cater to this audience that Insper Computer Science students Tomás Alessi and João Alfredo Cardoso Lamy worked on creating a user-friendly dashboard. They started the project in July, working in person at the facilities of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

 

The work was part of the tasks that the two were assigned to conduct during the university's summer internship. The initiative puts Insper's Computer Science and Computer Engineering professors and students in direct interaction with the academic community of the Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC. In this edition of the Summer Research Program, eight Insper students traveled to Illinois.

 

Productive semester

 

"The goal is to create a simple tool, in the form of a website, where the user clicks on the options they want and then receives the requested data in the form of files," says Alessi. The work was conducted under the guidance of Professor George Chacko, with mentorship from Professor Tandy Warnow.

 

"Professor Chacko leads a series of studies in this line and proved to be a great mentor. We went out with him for lunch and to get to know the city on different occasions. He was very open to discussing any topic, from more technical issues to career perspectives," says Alessi.

 

The student has had an especially productive year. In February, he participated in the Swift Student Challenge, an annual global challenge created by Apple. He was among the 350 selected, among applications presented from all regions of the world, for creating an app that evaluates product labels and delivers a nutritional assessment that supports food decisions.

 

Next, in May, he enrolled in an immersion conducted by the online technology school Alura, in partnership with Google. The goal was to help participants learn hands-on and develop projects from scratch with the Gemini API, Google's conversational interface, and the Google AI Studio, an environment for experimentation and application of advanced prompt engineering techniques.

 

The classes were followed by a competition. Among more than 1,800 projects submitted, his, a chat to help professionals find the jobs that best matched their profiles, placed fifth. In parallel, Alessi was participating in the selection process to take part in the summer internship in Illinois. He was approved and traveled in July.

 

Research in progress

 

During his time at UIUC, Alessi also worked on another research project, which will continue remotely now that he is back in Brazil. It is a project, once again conducted in collaboration with Lamy under the supervision of George Chacko, that aims to test the performance of a new density-based data clustering algorithm developed at the University of Illinois. “We are assessing the accuracy of this clustering method in comparison to other algorithms,” reports Alessi.

 

Between activities in Urbana, there was time to explore the campus. “Some students, including myself, bought used bicycles to ride around the entire university. We also visited Chicago, which is close by, explored the city's historical parts, ate their traditional pizza, and took a boat tour.” He also played soccer with a group of students from different nationalities.