2023-10-26: Jhon G. Botello (Computer Science PhD Student)

Hello Everyone! I am Jhon G. Botello from Colombia. I am an Engineer with a Master's in Industrial Engineering. I obtained these degrees at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, Colombia. Recently, I started a new chapter in my academic life by joining the Web Science and Digital Libraries (WS-DL) research group at Old Dominion University (ODU) as a Ph.D. student in Computer Science under the supervision of Dr. Michele Weigle. 

My interest in the field of Computer Science (CS) stems from the growing, important, and interesting relevance of technology in our society. Computer Science plays a crucial role in process automation, decision-making, and complex problem-solving. I believe that by combining my skills in Industrial Engineering, focused on data science and analysis, multivariate statistics, modeling, and simulation, with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, I will be able to contribute to the development of solutions to challenges of great interest in society.

I am taking the courses below for my first semester as an ODU student.

• CS 625 Data Visualization (Dr. Michele Weigle)
• CS 898 Dissertation Research (Dr. Michele Weigle)

In addition to joining ODU, I have been privileged to serve as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Storymodelers research lab, linked to the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), with whom I have been collaborating for approximately two years. This experience has been full of valuable learnings, interesting challenges, and enriching opportunities both in research and professionally.

Before I arrived in the United States, I was working with research through surveys applied to analyze the capacity of support that Colombia offers to migrants from Venezuela. Additionally, I have been involved in developing an application to automate the process.

Two weeks after arriving in Norfolk, I had the opportunity to travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the Storymodelers Lab and some WS-DL students and faculty to the 16th International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling & Prediction and Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (SBP-BRiMS 2023). This experience was highly enriching, especially since I am starting my PhD studies. During the event, I was able to learn from the work of other researchers and establish connections with them. Overall, the conference gave me a deeper perspective on the opportunities and challenges in various areas of computer science, which allowed me to generate ideas that will most likely be useful during my stay at ODU.

Overall, I am very happy to have started this exciting adventure and to join the WS-DL family. My motivation is high to continue growing academically, learning from my colleagues and professors, and contributing to society through research. I am grateful to all the people I have met so far for the warm welcome they have given me. 

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them" Walt Disney.

Jhon G. Botello