Soumya Khanna

About

Introduction

My name is Soumya Khanna and I'm a Computer Science senior at Virginia Tech graduating in December 2021. My interests in CS are Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, and Virtual Reality. Over the past summer, I learned mobile application development using ReactNative while participating in a hackathon. I'm currently working on two research projects in echolab under Dr. Sang Won Lee. I'm actively involved with VT clubs and organizations such as Developer Student Club, Student Engineers' Council, Association of Women in Computing, Engineers' Forum, and CEED International Team.

Undergraduate Involvement

Work Experience

Intern, Accenture [Canceled due to COVID-19]

Software Engineering Intern, Newgen Software

  • Collaborated with the CCM team to evaluate the OmniOMS product by analyzing code in Java and JavaScript, scanning for bugs and vulnerabilities, and securing the infrastructure
  • Enhanced the product to optimize its efficiency by 15% developing code fixes for inclusion in future code releases and patches

Resident Advisor, VT Housing and Residence Life

  • Built a community of 30+ first year engineering students in the Galipatia, Engineering Living Learning Community (LLC)

Global Ambassador, VT New Student and Family Programs

  • Headed orientation for a group of 20 first-year international students, informing them about the university programs and problem-solving the various issues they faced throughout the academic year

Student Assistant Manager, VT Dining Services

  • Guided and supervised 20+ new student employees in providing a satisfactory customer experience

Relevant Coursework

CS 4644 - Creative Computing Studio Capstone

Theme: Time x Space x Together x Apart
Relevant links: Semester Project

CS 4784 - Human-Computer Interaction Capstone

Theme: Difficult Conversations
Relevant links: Semester Project

CS 3724 - Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

CS 3744 - Introduction to GUI Programming

Clubs & Organizations

Lead, Developer Student Clubs by Google Developers, Virginia Tech

  • Increased club membership by 100+ students across 2 colleges
  • Organized 10+ workshops & speaker sessions with 70+ attendees across North America
  • Managed & led a team of 8+ core team members to coordinate events, members and projects

Relevant links: DSC | YouTube

Information Management Chair, Student Engineers' Council (SEC)

  • Redesigned the organization website to make it more user-friendly
  • Updated & customized the LEC & Engineering Expo websites before the events
  • Utilized ASP.NET MVC framework to develop the sites

Relevant links: SEC | Expo

Outreach Junior Chair, Association of Women in Computing (AWC)

  • Headed 3+ outreach events for middle-high school students in the NRV region
  • Partnered with 7+ local schools to raise awareness about STEM
  • Guided a group of 10+ student volunteers to support the events

Relevant links: AWC

Business Manager & Writer, Engineers' Forum

  • Streamlined the process for 15+ new club members
  • Advertised the magazine through 7+ student organizations to increase readership
  • Recruited new officers for the next academic year

Read my articles here:

President, International Student Support Team

  • Organized 10+ events throughout the year for 100+ international freshmen within the College of Engineering
  • Built a virtual community for students through monthly newsletters, shared resources and social media
  • Successfully recruited 30+ international students to the engineering living learning communities Galipatia

Relevant links: ISST

Conferences

Grace Hopper Celebration 2020

  • Selected as 1 of 25 CS students to receive a scholarship by the Department of Computer Science to attend vGHC 2020

ACM Symposium on User Interface Science and Technology 2020

  • Received a scholarship to represent Echolab at Virginia Tech at UIST 2020

Harvard WECode 2021

  • Received a scholarship to attend by the Association of Women in Computing (AWC)

Awards and Honors

Dean's List Fall 2020 | Spring 2020 | Spring 2019 | Fall 2018

Recipient of Housing Scholarship

Publications

Transitional Experience for International Students: Engaging in a Discipline-Specific Support System, ASEE 2021 Evaluating 6DOF monoscopic tablet devices for an inclusive, immersive, and social virtual environment, CHI 2021

Skills

Programming: Java, C++, C, Python Operating System: Windows, Linux, macOS Web development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript Mobile development: React Native, Swift