Name: Kyle Reinholt
Hometown: Wayside, WV
Advisor: Shaun Kane (Super Human Computing Lab)
My Path to Engineering
The home I grew up in was located “out in the sticks,” “in the boonies,” “middle of nowhere” -- I think you get the point. The town of Wayside, West Virginia, had a population of around 700 people. I had satellite internet because broadband wasn’t available out there and it took me forever to do anything online. The closest establishment from my home was a gas station that took a 30-minute drive to get to (going the speed limit, which no one ever did on the back roads, so about 20 minutes). This is getting verbose, so I’ll skip to the more important details.
I received my undergraduate degree from a small liberal arts college called Concord University in the small, wholesome town of Athens, WV. The campus had around 2,000 students when I attended. There wasn’t much to do in Athens except study, do homework, hike, fish, hunt, go muddin’, ski/snowboard, or get into trouble. I started out at Concord majoring in business administration. After I took a class called organizational behavior I realized I was majoring in adult babysitting. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I just wanted a degree with some sustenance. I started doing job growth searches on the Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that software developers had a really nice job outlook, this was in 2011 and it job growth is still above average today.
I had an idea of what I wanted to do, solely based off job statistics. I started looking at programs offered at Concord. They offered a program of study called computer information systems that would allow me to use some of my already earned business credits toward my degree. I became a declared computer information systems major. My first experience with an engineering course load went south quick. I failed calculus and discrete mathematics. I passed programming I, but it took every bit of effort I could possibly muster up. At this point, I thought I was doomed. I should mention, I already dropped out of college twice before this to pursue passions that didn’t pay the bills very well, such as being a drummer in a touring metal band.
Realizing it was going to take serious effort, I buckled down and took my courses more seriously. I rediscovered my passion for hard work in contexts other than my own personal hobbies and established an understanding in the foundations of mathematics. I became so enthralled in mathematical theory and computer science concepts that I switched my major to computer science/mathematics. I joined the computer science club on campus as well as the math club. When I was taking world literature for my second English credit, the professor recommended me to the McNair Scholars Program at Concord. At this time I didn’t know it, but this was the opportunity that would change my life forever. A low class, backwoods raised, metal drummer was about to become a scholar.
The McNair Scholars Program facilitates the process of minority students becoming strong applicants for graduate programs. The program had us work with a faculty mentor for one year to write a literature review, research plan, and research manuscript. Students also had to attend a REU (research opportunity for undergraduates) internship over the summer either at Concord University or any other program if they were accepted.
Why CU Boulder?
I attended an REU at Virginia Tech in the summer of 2015, I did independent research with a second mentor in the physics department at Concord during the fall of 2015, and another REU at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016. I became hooked on refining my research skills and improving my resume for graduate life.
Once I got a taste of graduate life at Boulder, my life goal became an algorithm. While (not Accepted): apply to CU Boulder. By the time I was ready to graduate, I was the president of the computer science club, chairman of the technology committee, and I had three years of experience working in the IT department at the college. I went from a student who was failing and dropping out of college to receiving the Bruce Covey Mathematics Prize and McNair Above and Beyond Award in five years. I applied to the computer science graduate program at CU Boulder in the fall of 2016. When I found out I was accepted in the spring of 2017 I had accomplished my first life goal ever. Now, I am working on my new life goal: get a PhD in computer science from the University of Colorado Boulder.
The decision to go to graduate school developed over time as opportunities presented themselves to me/ After gaining a little research experience, I craved more and became interested in many different fields of research. I became interested in human-centered computing because of the diversity in the field. In the fields human-centered computing (HCC) or human-computer interaction (HCI) you can use concepts from other disciplines and fields of computer science to not only solve problems but help people as well. I am now working in the Superhuman Computing Lab using concepts from computer vision, mathematics, and human-computer interaction to create assistive technologies for people who are blind or visually impaired.
I decided to go to CU because the faculty and staff respect work/life balance. I noticed people were healthy and happy in the research communities I wanted to be a part of. The faculty in the HCI department at CU have a copious amount of connections in academia and industry. Graduate students in the lab I work in get internships at companies like Microsoft and Google. Students get to go conferences all over the world more than once a year. In my first year alone I attended three conferences; I was able to visit Montreal for the first time, which was pretty cool! Top-tier researchers and experts in industry give technical talks throughout the semester. Boulder is a great place to live. For the most part it is made up of a bunch of smart, happy, healthy, dog loving, bike riders that are constantly getting into something new. There are many opportunities here for a happy lifestyle while undergoing a demanding, sometimes intensely stressful, work life.
What I love about CU is the community. Throughout your graduate career you will experience a lot of failure. You must in order to be successful. The camaraderie among graduate students and faculty creates an atmosphere that supports success because of the awareness that small failures will occur constantly. The support you receive, coupled with the resources, really makes CU a great environment for graduate life. Conducting research and doing coursework can often feel like a competition. To me, here at CU, we focus more on conversating and collaborating than keeping our ideas to ourselves. I feel research communities and students develop skills with a more interdisciplinary understanding.