Research and Development Center

BECKY

Hometown:
Chillicothe, IL
Illinois Valley Central

Major / Minor:
Senior in Computer Science/The Hoeft Technology & Management Program

Extracurricular Activities @ U of I:
Women in Computer Science, ChicTech, Japanese Animation Club

Favorite Class @ U of I:
Myths and Legends of Medieval Ireland

Hobbies:
Sports (baseball, basketball, volleyball), pool, music (I play piano and violin), swing dancing

Favorite Quote:
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

Favorite Restaurant in C-U:
Mandarin Wok

Favorite Music:
Country, musicals, everything else

Favorite Movies:
Finding Nemo, Cars, Monster’s Inc., Ice Age, Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, Dirty Dancing

Favorite TV Shows:
House, Scrubs, Sex and the City, Law & Order SVU

Best college advice:
Don’t go through college thinking it is all about having to get homework done and study like mad.  If you are sick or stressed out, go seek help; don’t just think you’ll be fine.  If school is taking its toll on you then relax and slow your pace down.  You’re only here once, so enjoy it.

Project work @ the RC:
This semester I am working on a research project involving virtualization of servers for the UNIX support team.  Previously, I worked on a predecessor project for ECS Drop 7 where our team created an ASCII/RTF to XML converter and a validation tool.  My role on the team was off-site team lead.

What brought you to the RC?
I worked at the Bloomington location one summer and loved the people and the experience.  They invited me to continue working at the Research and Development Center and I accepted.

Best thing about working at the RC:
The atmosphere and the people

Most surprising thing you’ve learned about State Farm:
There is actually work for a computer scientist in an insurance agency.  State Farm’s network is huge and there is a lot to play on (UNIX boxes, Servers, table computer thingy, etc.).