Computer Science Student Wins
Goldwater Scholarship
Computer science senior Jack Le in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science has been named a recipient of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation award.
Le is among the 441 students selected for Goldwater Scholarships this year from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants. From those, 1,350 science, engineering and mathematics students were nominated by 445 academic institutions to compete for the 2025 scholarships.
“Our students’ selection as Goldwater Scholars shows once again that The University of Texas at Dallas is one of the top universities in the country for STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] students,” said Dr. Douglas Dow, associate dean of the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College who heads the Office of Distinguished Scholarships. Dow encourages outstanding students to apply for the Goldwater Scholarships in their sophomore year.
Dow encourages outstanding students to apply for the Goldwater Scholarships in their sophomore year.
“It feels too early for many students, but completing the application is such an amazing opportunity to imagine in detail what your research career and specialization might look like,” said Dow, who is also a clinical professor of government and politics in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.
National Merit Scholar and first-generation student Le taught himself Japanese when he was enrolled in Garland High School and sidelined by COVID-19.
Now, he is conducting research in natural language processing and artificial intelligence at a yearlong exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he is working with computational linguist Dr. Kumiko Tanaka-Ishii.
Le is especially interested in the interdisciplinary aspects of computer science.
“In high school I was more of an artsy person. I thought about doing literature for a long time,” he said.
Then, he discovered that he could combine his interest in art and languages — in addition to Japanese and English, he speaks Latin, French and Vietnamese — with computer science.
“What I’m interested in is whether artificial intelligence can replicate the properties of natural language,” he said. “Being able to connect that to my research is really rewarding. I feel like I get two passions in one.”
Dr. Ovidiu Daescu, professor and department head of computer science and a Jonsson School Chair, said he was proud of Le for his diligent pursuit of research.
“While working mostly independently, he made significant progress toward the end goal,” he said. “In the process, he learned AI and machine-learning techniques that will be highly beneficial in his future endeavors.
“That work ethic and the perseverance in research makes me confident Jack will greatly benefit from the Goldwater Scholarship.”
A version of this story appeared in News Center.