Rebecca Yu

Rebecca graduated from Milton High School, located in the metro Atlanta area of Georgia. At Columbia, she plans to major in computer science, especially AI/ML, but she also has additional interests in applied mathematics and biology.

Before she can remember, Rebecca has always been fascinated by the intersection of science and technology. She loves the process of extracting meaning out of the hidden patterns and astronomical amounts of information in the world, and she believes the capabilities of computing play a vital role in accomplishing these goals. Rebecca began her research journey the summer after her sophomore year when she was selected to attend the Georgia Tech AI4ALL summer program. There, she learned how to apply machine learning techniques to analyze large datasets, and she eventually conducted research and delivered a poster presentation on the prominence of genre- and gender-based bias in movie dialogue. In her junior and senior summers, Rebecca worked as a student researcher in the Yang Lab at Emory University. She studied the effectiveness of quantitative genomics techniques such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS), and she collaborated with a team and developed an ML-based web tool for analyzing genomic and gene expression data to better predict the development of human diseases. At Columbia, Rebecca hopes to further her exploration of computer science, especially in the applications of AI/ML to scientific fields as well as its growing ethical concerns.

In high school, Rebecca served as a team captain and coach of the Science Olympiad team. Competing since freshman year, she has garnered dozens of medals in various subjects including astronomy, cryptography, electrical engineering, and chemistry. Furthermore, she established a program for mentoring and recruiting middle school Science Olympiad members to support young interest in STEM. She further expanded upon this mission as the Vice President of her high school’s Hack Club Chapter, hosting weekly lessons and workshops in computer science to introduce students from all backgrounds to the capabilities of computing.

Rebecca is also committed to community service. As the Vice President of Beta Club, she co- organized a schoolwide prep book drive and coordinated long-term volunteer efforts with organizations around the community. Additionally, she created an online volunteer hour logging system for club members that saved hundreds of dollars needed to purchase subscription-based software.

In her free time, Rebecca enjoys drawing and painting, folding origami, jogging, and playing the piano. She also enjoys traveling, especially going on hikes and stargazing in remote areas. Rebecca is excited to experience all that New York City has to offer and to grow as a scholar and researcher at Columbia.