Thank you for joining me today. To start, would you mind introducing yourself, your field of study, and how you would explain it to a high schooler? 

Yeah, sure.

My name is Sunny Lee. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last year, so 2025. I majored in computer and information sciences with a minor in creative writing.

I was originally accepted to Penn as a mechanical engineering major, but I switched to computer science in my sophomore year. So if I were to introduce my major, computer science, to high schoolers, I'd say it's a study of thinking and learning how computers work. And it's basically using software to solve real-world problems.

You mentioned you majored in computer information science, which sounds a lot like computer science. So what is the distinction between those two? 

Yeah, actually those two majors are pretty much the same.

At Penn, we used to call it computer information sciences because we focus a bit more on how data is processed as well as like just how computers work itself. So yeah, it's mostly the same. 

Thinking back, was there a specific class, project camp, or other experience that first made you interested in STEM?

Yeah, sure. I think I liked STEM in general since I was like a child. I loved playing with Lego blocks when I was like five, and that led me to do pretty much a lot of like competitions for Lego building or any like robotics-related competitions.

And that basically just kept on going, and I continued robotics till high school, which eventually led me to go to Penn as a mechanical engineering student. 

Can you tell me about how from robotics and mechanical engineering, you then decide to switch over to computer information science? 

Yeah, sure.

So at my first year of university, I joined this robotics lab called Penn's GRASP Lab. It's basically a general robotics lab, and I participated in a project called VTT, which stands for Variable Topology Trust. It's basically modular trust systems moving together.

And during that project, I really loved it, but I realized that there are some limitations to how much a mechanical engineering project could go without the actual skills in computer science. So a lot of robotics, it's not only mechanical, but also computer science. And while I got more exposed to how computer science plays a role in robotics, I think I just naturally got more interested and then switched my major.

So when you switched your major from mechanical engineering to computer information sciences, obviously, in robotics, those two fields have to work together. So did you ever feel like you had to sacrifice one in order to pursue the other one? 

Yeah, to a certain extent, yes, because I can't really do both majors at the same time.

I could have done a master in robotics, but in terms of just time, you're kind of limited. Engineering is quite intensive, the program itself, for both computer science and mechanical engineering. So I did feel like there wasn't enough time to learn all of those.

So I had to make a decision. 

So can you describe the most memorable project or problem that you've worked on or are currently working on? 

Yeah, sure.

So I guess, as I told you, I started working in the robotics lab at Penn back in freshman year, and I continued working with them, even after graduation. So I'm currently involved as an independent researcher, doing studies on the pathfinding algorithms of the VTT robot. So you mentioned like this Penn robotics lab a lot.

Is that something that you had to apply for? Or is that part of a class or something else? 

Yeah.

So when I got accepted to Penn, I knew that there were a lot of robotics labs. And GRASP was one of the, I guess there are a lot of robotics lab inside GRASP too. So it's just like a very prestigious lab that I wanted to go to since high school.

So I just cold emailed my professors. I think the first semester I got there, and the professor gave me an opportunity to participate in one of the projects. So that's I got involved.

That's really cool. 

Next, can you tell me about what you did or learned in your favorite major related class? 

Yeah, so I did talk a lot of robotics, but I also really think computer science is eventually a study of making people satisfied with the software solutions that you have.

So one class I really loved is a class called human computer interaction. That's basically thinking about users experiences, user journeys, and how the end user would actually use their product. So there's a lot of project based classes with teammates, actually going to see the users and doing surveys, and just the iterative process of developing getting feedback.

Can you elaborate on some of the projects that you guys are building in that class? 

Yeah, sure. So my final project was called fridge tracker.

It was a smart fridge ingredient, quantity and expiration date tracking app. And it had like a built in recipe recommendation and like a shopping list feature. This is kind of back when chat GPT wasn't that good.

So I guess right now it's really different. But back then, having AI features was a new thing. So yeah, that's very cool.

Um, so after you fully entered your new field of computer information science, what really surprised you most about it? 

Yeah, I guess. Even like at work, I've been working for around like a year after graduation.

But the speed of change is just very fast. It's really incomparable to other majors. So like mechanical engineering, you know, when there's like a new development or new progress, it's like a big thing.

But computer science, new changes happen like literally every day. So I guess that was something that I didn't really expect, especially because I switched my major before AI was like so big. And realizing that was a very big shift.

Can you tell me a little bit more about like the kind of work that you're doing right now? 

Yeah, sure. So I'm currently a member of technical staff at a stealth AI startup.

Stealth AI means just we are not public yet. It's just an AI startup. Right now, I was initially hired more for the front end side, which is the user facing side.

But with all the development of AI, I'm doing all full stack work, front end, back end. And we're trying to build a collaborative knowledge base and context slash code based management system. 

So what does your day to day life look like?

Is it just sitting at a desk and typing on your computer? Is it a lot of meetings? Or is it like paperwork?

Or is it something else? 

Yeah, so it kind of differs based on the day. But usually, at the start of the week, we have a web testing meeting where we just play with our app, play with what we built for like an hour.

And then from that meetings, we get feedback from our teammates. And also from people we actually reach out to. So based on this feedback, we separate work into what we're going to do this week, what we can't do, but we're going to do later on when time allows.

And that basically guides us to like what we're going to work on throughout the week. So a lot of planning on Mondays. And after that, it's just sitting in the computer in front of cloud code, which is the development tool that most developers use.

And just assigning a task, reviewing PRs, pull requests for people change stuff, and then they want to get like a human approval because just blindly trusting the AI is not a good practice. So reviewing PRs, building code, and then after that, on Fridays, we have a tech sync, where you just go over all the stuff that changed. And if we have any discussions to make, we do it like all throughout the week.

So you talked about Claude AI. And right now, there's like a lot of uncertainty around computer science related majors due to AI. So what thoughts do you have on the rise of AI and its impact on this field?

Yeah, sure. So basically, I feel like when ChatGPT first came out, it was 2022, I believe it was the last semester of my freshman year. And that when I first tried ChatGPT, I realized that it wasn't that good.

So I haven't used it for like a few months. And then around 2023, it got like much more powerful. That's when Microsoft Copilot came out, it actually started auto completing, like when you start writing code, it started auto completing.

And Claude, I think Claude had like a really big boom around 2024, or like early 2025. Ever since Claude had that boom, plus all the AI of all the other AI companies follow that the way you work really, really changes. But in essence, there still is a part where human engineers actually have to contribute in Claude and all the AI tools, I believe are tools that could help you but it is kind of hard to just let it do all of the job.

There should be like a human supervising it. So there would eventually be less engineers, but never like no engineers. Awesome.

So if you could go back, what advice would you give to your ninth grade self? 

Yeah, um, I guess I just say be very open minded with changes, because you really don't know what would happen. And I guess ninth grade, I think I really tried out a bunch of clubs activities or like extracurricular activities.

And that really helped me in understanding what I do like and what I don't like. I feel like the process of elimination that you go through in ninth grade, 10th grade, maybe even 11th grade is really important because it's much harder when you're at like 10th grade or 11th grade to like change the major you're trying to apply to right. So it's the time of exploration, try a lot of stuff.

And it's really important to know what you don't like. 

Is there any opportunities that you wish you had pursued in high school? 

Yeah, so I think back in my high school years, I did want to go to like summer camps and stuff.

But COVID happened. So I couldn't really go there. So if you have like those experiences, especially the ones in campus, it's a really good choice chance to like actually meet people, talk with other students, and talk with like mentors.

Is there anything that you wish you had explored more or anything that you wish you had stressed less about? 

Yeah, I guess. Is this for ninth graders?

Or is this for like, in general, I guess, in your academic life? 

Yeah, sure. So I feel like, I guess in high school, I did care a lot about like, all the GPA related stuff, all SAT practices and stuff.

But eventually GPA and SAT, they're only going to get you to like a certain place. What you do outside of school is really important. So I definitely say you want to like focus on having like a very good extracurricular life, or like a club activity that's really impressive.

Because eventually in like that admissions, they don't really care about your GPA. It's just like something for a cut off. 

So what is one small step a student can take right now to explore computer information science?

Yeah, I'd say right now with the rise of AI, coding or development is just like so cheap now. So you could, basically anybody could be a software engineer, if they know how to like prompt it. And those prompting skills, they basically grow once you actually start working on it.

So I just say try vibe coding, or just developing any passion project or try to like solve an issue that you ever had in your life, automate stuff, and just try any projects that you'd want to have or see. Is there a programming language that you would recommend beginners to start with? Honestly, with like all the AI stuff, I'd say you really don't need to learn a language.

But if you were to start with it, I'd say Python, of course, and TypeScript, because that's what we mostly use in front end. But the thing is, if you know like the basics of Python, then you naturally know like how other languages also work, at least like a glimpse of it. So know like the basics, and then try actually using AI to build projects.

So now that AI is here, and knowing syntax isn't as important as it used to be, like studying the language, studying the syntax isn't that important anymore. What skills do you think students should prioritize if they want to learn coding? 

Yeah, sure.

So I feel like it's not even a skill, but you have to stay on top of like all the AI development. So just making sure you know what's coming up, like Anthropic does like all of the conferences, whenever they have stuff, they show it on X or Twitter. And just being on top of those helps you because they tell you like what skills are there, what agentic harnesses are being built, and learning those and actually trying to implement that or use it in your workflow is more important than learning any syntax.

So that's all my questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences and your knowledge. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, anytime. Let me know if you need anything else, and I'm so glad to help. 

Thank you.