Students
Fifth Cohort of Lustgarten-Whitney Fellows Announced
With roots in biochemistry, linguistics, and theater, this year’s fellows highlight the power of diverse backgrounds converging in computer science.
Columbia Engineering has announced the latest recipients of the Lustgarten-Whitney Fellowship, awarded through the Computer Science Department’s MS Bridge Program. Designed for students without prior experience in computer science or programming, the program equips participants with the foundational skills needed to pursue careers in technology. This year’s fellows are Justyn Chang and Ryan Puterbaugh.
The Lustgarten-Whitney Fellowship is funded through the generous support of Janet Lustgarten MS’85. Recipients are chosen for their exceptional academic achievement in the program and their demonstrated ability to apply computer science in a wide range of disciplines.
“My joy over the past five years of the fellowship has been supporting the goals of such a talented and diverse group of recipients,” said Lustgarten. “Because they come from different academic backgrounds, they have a unique ability to see beyond simply computing as a career path. I expect that many of them will be using technology in new ways that are beneficial to society.”
The program continues to expand, with curriculum enhancements designed to offer a more personalized learning experience. These updates ensure that students build a strong foundation while also allowing them to delve into specialized topics like intelligent systems. The addition of more math-focused courses helps students strengthen their analytical and problem-solving abilities—key skills for excelling in advanced areas of engineering.
This year’s fellows merge their backgrounds in biochemistry, linguistics, and theater with new explorations in computer science.
Justyn Chang
Justyn Chang is a graduate of New York University with a degree in biochemistry. He is passionate about the intersection of artificial intelligence and biomedical research, with a particular focus on cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Since graduating from NYU, he has worked as a research associate at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub New York, where he generated CRISPR screen data to help train AI models aimed at predicting cell behavior, tools that could one day transform how we understand and detect disease.
As an undergraduate, he received a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund grant for his work in the Feske Lab, investigating zinc transporter proteins and immune function.
Eager to deepen his computational expertise, Chang joined the MS Bridge Program to build a strong foundation in computer science before continuing into the MS program. Long-term, he hopes to contribute to the next wave of scientific discovery in biotechnology, whether in industry or through a PhD program.
Ryan Puterbaugh
Ryan Puterbaugh ’24CC is a Columbia College graduate with a double major in linguistics and drama and theatre arts. With a deep interest in the intersection of language, creativity, and computation, he is passionate about applying computer science to traditional linguistic research, ranging from speech recognition and language documentation to models of cognition and language evolution.
Puterbaugh discovered a love for programming through an introductory computational linguistics course. That initial spark has since grown into a drive to explore how computational tools can support and expand linguistic inquiry, especially in an era shaped by rapid advancements in AI and digital media.
Now part of the MS Bridge Program, he is preparing to specialize in natural language processing and aims to contribute to more equitable, insightful, and creative uses of technology in language science.