This website is currently my own little depression in the surface of the internet, where I shall allow my thoughts to pool and mindless ditherings to collect as I find myself ricocheted about the academic world this summer. My name is Leah Hackman, I am currently a student at the University of Alberta. I started as a math student in 2004 but am currently in the process of switching into computing sciences. I just finished my second year and plan to be here until 2008 or 2009, we will see if I am able to cut back on taking too many "OOOH that looks sweet" courses and actually take my requirements. You can reach me at surname [at] ualberta [dot] ca .
My mentor and supervisor for this summer is Renee Elio. She is a Professor at the University of Alberta in the department of computing sciences. Her area of research, and subsequently the topic of my summer project, is cognitive sciences. You can read more about her at http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/people/faculty/ree.php .
Currently the goals of my project are a little less concrete, before we commit to a concrete plan we need to test the limitations of my own intelligence and existing knowledge and find which area interests me the most before we set some boundaries. If you check my weekly updates you'll get some insight into what we're discussing, what I'm thinking, and what direction we're heading. The weekly updates will be divided into three sections to reflect the varied nature of my experiences working on campus this summer. I hope to update with details pertaining to a)the technical aspects of my research b)the theoretical aspects, including my own reflections upon the material studied that week and c)the social aspect. I strongly believe that interacting with the students and staff in the CS department is integral to enjoying myself and maximizing the growth experiened as a result of being part of the jadeproject. As more aspects of my summer become formalized this section will be updated to reflect the more concrete nature of my project.