#SoCaltech: Sulekha Kishore
“I’ve had so many experiences at Caltech, but they’re all different facets of what I’m interested in. It’s been nice to have the ability to do lots of different things because it’s always been hard for me to choose just one.
“I was initially really interested in aerospace, and I did an internship and had a couple of research experiences related to satellites. Working with Professor Soon-Jo Chung [Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems and a Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior research scientist], I helped develop a computer vision algorithm for a satellite called Edge Node Lite that does on-board training, segmentation, and detection of other objects in space. It was especially exciting to see a rocket launch with our satellite and get pictures from it in space!
“Around the same time, I took several classes with Professor Mike Alvarez [Flintridge Foundation Professor of Political and Computational Social Science] and got more engaged in political science research. I helped create a software package that quickly finds and links duplicated information in voter registration databases when someone signs up to vote at the DMV or changes their address and winds up with multiple records. It was exciting to learn about the real-world problems that election officials face and think about how to solve them with theory-informed approaches and tools.
“I also really like getting out in the community and working with people. One of my favorite experiences has been organizing the Southern California Science Olympiad State Tournament, which is a massive volunteer-run event that brings more than a thousand middle and high school students to Caltech’s campus to compete in science events. I participated in the state tournament when I was a high school student in Pasadena, and I thought it was so cool to learn the science and then compete at Caltech. Now, as the president of Caltech’s Science Olympiad Club, I helped organize the event and even got to hand out the awards on stage in Beckman Auditorium. That was a very ‘full circle’ moment.”
Sulekha Kishore is a graduating fourth year double majoring in computer science and political science. She is the president of the Caltech Science Olympiad Club; a member of the executive committee and Student Activism Speaker Series (SASS) committee of the Caltech Y; the captain of Caltech’s Ultimate Frisbee Team; an admissions ambassador, tour guide, and blog writer for the Undergraduate Admissions Office; the vice president of the Caltech Surf and Windsurf Club; and a computer science and political science teaching assistant.
After graduation, Kishore will pursue her PhD at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. She plans to research algorithmic fairness and AI alignment, explore the societal impacts of AI, and develop more robust technical foundations for responsible AI.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.