Iris (Sirui) Xue

Iris (Sirui) Xue is from Bethesda, Maryland and graduated from the Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School. At Columbia, Iris plans to major in computer science to further explore her interest in artificial intelligence.

Her interest in artificial intelligence began when she worked on an AI-based image processing project at the AI4ALL summer camp at the University of Maryland. She was then appointed as the chapter lead of the University of Maryland AI4ALL. This experience led her to think about using artificial intelligence to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and its related issues. In her junior year, she worked with a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison WiscIR Lab on the NIST TREC-COVID Data Challenge to help researchers better search for COVID-19 related literature. In 2021, she was accepted by the University of California, Santa Barbara Research Mentorship Program with a full scholarship and conducted research on the age-dependent effect of obesity on immune function. In addition, she has completed several other AI projects, such as predicting the risk of wildfires and detecting cancer from CT scans.

Iris is dedicated to supporting other girls in computer science. At her high school, she was co-captain of Code Girls, a club that aims to empower girls to develop an interest in computer science and gain exposure to computer science careers. She expanded the club and received funding to found and host the inaugural Code Girls Competition for girls around the world. She received the 2021 NCWIT AspireIT Impact Award for her outstanding work in creating opportunities for underrepresented populations and exhibiting strong peer leadership models.

Iris also enjoys volunteering in the local community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Iris and a group of friends founded an organization that gave hundreds of kids the opportunity to learn while school was on hold.

At Columbia, Iris looks forward to studying computer science and continuing her research in using artificial intelligence to solve real-world problems.

In her free time, Iris enjoys traveling, playing golf, and spending time with her two younger siblings.