MORE ABOUT RUCHANEEWAN
Graduation Date: August 2008
Hometown: Thailand
High School: Rajini School, Bangkok, Thailand
Awards & Achievements:
- Member of the the UPE Delta Chapter of Illinois, May 2004
- CDM Research Symposium Best Paper Award 2006
- The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Scholarship Award 2006
- UPE/ACM Student Chapter Scholarship Award 2007
Campus Involvement:
- CDM Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) Chapter’s Secretary
- Program Coordinator in NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates in Medical Informatics
Ruchaneewan Susomboon
Area of Study:Computer Science with a concentration on Data Mining
I chose my major because... I chose data mining as my research area because data mining techniques can be applied to extract nuggets of information from mountains of data from any domain. In particular, for my Ph.D. dissertation, I am applying data mining techniques to extract hidden, non-trivial and meaningful information from terabytes of medical image data acquired through various medical imaging modalities (such as CT and MRI). Creating computer-aided diagnostic and retrieval tools can help medical doctors interpret hundreds of images per patient scan more efficiently and accurately.
My favorite thing to do on campus is... have lunch in the DePaul cafeteria. I can watch other students, watch news on TV and actually get disconnected for one hour from all my daily activities. When I return to the lab, I come refreshed and ready for more work.
The learning environment here at DePaul is... a very relaxing atmosphere. The classes are small, thus, teachers can focus on their students. There is a lot of mutual communication between students and teachers. The students are strongly motivated to participate in the discussions in class. Moreover, all faculty are easy to approach for discussion on a one-to-one basis.
My favorite professor at DePaul is... Dr. Daniela Raicu, my advisor. She is an excellent teacher in every way. Her ability to describe the material is fantastic. She can perfectly connect our material in the class to real-world research and application. Dr. Raicu goes above and beyond the call of duty in being my advisor; she is also my mentor and provides me with guidance with respect to research, career, professional and personal life.
When I have free time, I like to... listen to music and watch my favorite TV channel, the Food Network. I am a big fan of "Iron Chef Battle." These entertaining activities relax and refresh me.
My favorite thing to do off campus is... reading books at Barnes & Noble in the DePaul Center.
One thing I didn’t know about DePaul before coming was... the Center for Writing-based Learning. One of the most important activities when doing research is to get your work published; it means that one has to write many research papers which is sometimes difficult for those who are not native speakers. The Center for Writing-based Learning is a great resource for me and other international students to find help writing papers, theses and dissertations.
The greatest thing about going to school in Chicago is... the wonderful opportunities the city offers regarding both professional and social life. Professionally, there are many good schools and companies that hire from these schools. Socially, the city offers something interesting for everyone. No matter the season or the day of the year, if I want to go to a park, a museum, a good theater or show, there is always something available. The city is so alive and the people are so friendly.
The benefits of attending a technology program that is a school unto itself are.. the possibility to choose from a large variety of programs (computer science, networking, software engineering, etc), the use of cutting-edge technology and the interaction with people who have experience in both academia and industry.
The facilities and instructors at DePaul's CDM are... excellent, especially the Course OnLine (COL) system in regards to facilities. All the classes in CDM are recorded in the COL system: PowerPoint presentations, lecture notes and whiteboard notes are made available and you can go back and forth on the recording if you need to listen to certain parts of the lecture. I also like the fact that the school updates the computer equipment every year. The CDM instructors are very friendly. The students are encouraged to participate and ask any questions in-class and as well outside class.
The best thing about DePaul is... that the university cares that its students receive a good education and are prepared for real-world jobs. In particular, at CDM, the availability of state-of-the-art technology gives students the opportunities to explore new areas and be competitive in research or on the job market.
My greatest success as a student here has been... choosing a research topic that I love and a research group that I enjoy interacting with. So far, I have passed all three qualifying exams that Ph.D. students have to take, and I have six research papers published; one of them received the CDM Research Symposium Best Paper Award and another has been selected to participate in a grand challenge competition.
After graduation, I plan to... work as a researcher in an industrial company in Thailand, my homeland.
The one thing I’d like to say to students considering DePaul is... keep your eyes and mind open to all things that happen on campus — in the classroom and in the research labs. The key to success is to participate in extracurricular activities that will enrich your life as a student and make your résumé more attractive when you are ready for a job!
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