About Me

Welcome! My name is Lauryn Brough and I am a UTRGV student pursuing a degree in Computer Science. I am a third year student with the credits of a senior. I am an Undergraduate Research Assistant with Dr. Emmet Tomai studying Machine Learning in a video game environment. I was a Senator for the College of Engineering and Computer Science with UTRGV's Student Government Association as well as the Senate Sergeant at Arms. I was a Student Assistant with the outreach program Club Code which introduced Computer Science to elementary and middle school students through non-CS teachers. I am a creative writer. I am a jewelry crafter. I am a German learner. I am ever programming.

Dreams in CS

I got into CS after my brother first introduced me to the concept when I was eight. I had no clue what I was saying when I said that it was what I wanted to do, but at least I found out I was right when in my freshman year I started programming, loved it, and exceled at it.

The same year, I watched a presentation on the development of a project named Watson by IBM. The project was still in earlier stages but the idea of it still amazed me and sparked a fire in me to work on Artificial Intelligence. Since then, I have programmed nearly everyday hoping one day I can build a artificial intelligence of my own design to make life easier for everyone and fully comprehend language. After working on an artificial intelligence project in Summer 2017, I knew I chose the right path and the ride was still beginning.

As my dive into AI and Machine Learning continued, I learned more and began to understand more about the complexities of Machine Learning and the struggles of debugging. I made some really amazing friends and grew closer to my team through problem solving and the ocassional goofing off after work. We worked together to encourage exploration of an agent to build a more rounded agent that has more in mind aside from being the best.

Dreams in Creative Writing

One of the most amazing things about writing is you explore situations and problems to discover solutions you might not have thought about. You put yourself in your characters shoes, take on their mindset, and learn a little more about yourself while doing so.

Writing allows us to see creative problem solving without even encountering the problem ourselves while destressing about whatever situation we may be in. By writing, we take a chance to see and understand each other and what situations we may be in, we begin to see different solutions to the same problem and expand our horizons.

I hope to one day publish what I have discovered about myself. As we put ourselves in the mindset of the villain and the hero, we understand how no one is perfect, including ourselves.

Why I do What I do

I was a nerdy kid growing up, sticking to books and video games instead of playing outside or other typical girly things. Since then, I have always been fascinated with language and visual design. The way we tell stories and make up our own to describe events in fantastical ways that are, for the most part, bigger than life. Whenever I wrote my short story in 5th grade to be published in the brand new school story book, I began to dream with new stories and amazing characters that I design myself. Imagine if we had not only our imagination to interpt the words into images but also machines.