Brown CS Blog

Sarah Sachs, a recent Brown CS graduate, is the winner of a Distinguished Senior Thesis Prize. The award recognizes exemplary senior thesis projects by undergraduates across the University. “Sarah has done really impressive work, and accomplished a lot as an undergrad,” says her mentor Professor Pedro Felzenszwalb. “Her thesis describes her research in optimization algorithms, and image processing techniques for finding similar objects in a large collection of images…. in a way that is accessible to a broad audience while at the same time going in depth into several important technical questions.”

“I’ll fondly remember the hours we spent taking turns on the whiteboard testing different ideas and concepts,” says Sarah. "It was thrilling to feel like a collaborator. Professor Felzenszwalb gave me the inspiration to explore concepts, but he also gave me the liberty to be my own investigator and try my own ideas. This environment fostered excellent progress with my project that surprised both of us.”  Sarah never considered turning her research into a thesis until her mentor suggested it. “He forced me to step out of my comfort zone and discover new confidence in my research and results. To be awarded with this distinction was a humbling reminder to always work hard, surround yourself with great advisors, and believe in yourself — the rest will happen naturally.” 

 For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Outreach Specialist Jesse C. Polhemus.