Following in Her Brother’s Footsteps

Albina Haque ’24 accepted into prestigious research program her sibling completed in 2019

Albina Haque ’24, a Brooklyn double major in Mathematics and Computer Science, has been accepted into the prestigious Microsoft Research New York City’s Data Science Summer School (DS3).

The four-week program only accepts 12 undergraduate students from the New York City area annually and awards them each a $3,000 stipend, as well as a laptop for their participation in the program.

Ms. Haque’s brother Adnan completed the same program in 2019. And since 2014, St. Joseph’s has had eight students take part in the DS3 program.

With a letter of recommendation from David Seppala-Holtzman, Ph.D., professor of mathematics and computer science, Ms. Haque applied in March and started the DS3 program at the end of May.

“Albina is a smart, focused student,” Dr. Seppala-Holtzman said. “I am certain she will represent St. Joseph’s University with distinction in this very prestigious Microsoft Program.”

The DS3 program includes both coursework in data science and group research projects. It’s taught by leading scientists at the Microsoft Research Lab in New York City.

“This program will allow me to efficiently work with real-life datasets and build prediction models,” Ms. Haque said. “There is so much hands-on practice I will be doing.”

In addition to the DS3 program, Ms. Haque will conduct an independent research project this summer involving an investigation of air pollution in Dhaka, the capital of her native Bangladesh. St. Joseph’s University is supporting her endeavor with a summer research grant.

After St. Joseph’s, she plans to gain a few years of experience in the tech industry before pursuing a master’s degree and ultimately a Ph.D. She credits her time at the University for building her confidence and preparing her for the program.

“The coursework I have done helped and I got to know about this program in my sophomore year because professors were encouraging us to apply,” she said. “The recommendation letters also helped me.”