CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Five University of Illinois students received the 2002 Siebel Scholars award for their outstanding work in the computer science graduate program. Bhaskar Borthakur, Albert Chu, Hui Fang, James Jackson and Ryan Szypowski were honored based on academic merit and leadership excellence. Each received a $25,000 cash award to defray tuition costs and expenses for their second year of graduate study.
Borthakur received his undergraduate degree at Birla Institute of Technology. Chu did his undergraduate work at the UI. Both focused on systems software and networking.
Fang studied physics at Nanjing University in China, and received a masters degree in physics from the University of Delaware. His research interest is computational science as it applies to astronomy.
Jackson, whose interest is artificial intelligence, earned his bachelors degree at West Point.
Szypowski studied at the University of Manitoba, where he completed an honors project on the simulation of black holes. His research interest is numerical methods.
The award stems from the Siebel Scholars Program established at graduate schools of business or computer science at Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern, Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and the UI.
Siebel Systems Inc., an eBusiness application software provider, donated $2.6 million to each institution for the Siebel Scholars program. The investment proceeds of the endowment were designed to support the program indefinitely. Siebel Systems employees, including chairman Thomas M. Siebel, have assisted Siebel Scholars through providing mentoring services, job search assistance, and helping with business and public service initiatives.
