Elsa Tai

Elsa came to El Paso all the way from Hong Kong. She’d known since her high school days that she wanted to study computer science and with that knowledge, an open mind and a desire to experience new things, she left her home country thousands of miles away to travel to UTEP.

Elsa has very fond memories from her early days as an undergraduate in the CS Department at UTEP. Mr. Ron Challman was the instructor in the first CS course that she took here and he was so supportive and encouraging of her, and all the other students in the class, that she just knew she had made the right choice in coming here. She was also lucky to be introduced to research while she was still an undergraduate. By the time she graduated Elsa had worked on research projects under the guidance of Dr. d’Auriol, Dr. Roach, Dr. Gates and Dr. Modave.

But all did not go smoothly for Elsa. One semester she registered for a probability class and she found that it was very difficult to keep up. Never too shy to ask questions Elsa sought out one of our theory professors, Dr. Modave, and asked for his help to get though the probability class. Dr. Modave was only too happy to help – and Elsa was very happy to find someone who would answer the millions of questions that came to mind every few seconds – it was the beginning of a beautiful mentor/mentee relationship! In fact, thanks to Dr. Modave’s help and guidance Elsa got an A in probability. She also began to seriously consider applying to the master’s program so that she could do research in computer security, also under the guidance of Dr. Modave. “Actually,” says Elsa, “without his help and him telling me I could do it, I probably would not have had the courage to go for my master’s right away.”

So after she graduated with her BS Elsa followed her instincts and Dr. Modave’s advice – she applied and was accepted to the master’s program at UTEP. She’s just begun her first year in the master’s program and she is very happy with her choice. She loves her graduate classes, she enjoys being a TA, and she follows her undergraduate tradition of visiting her professors often to ask lots of questions.

In her spare time Elsa enjoys cooking – she is still looking for the ultimate oatmeal raisin cookie recipe – and shopping.

Elsa does have one bit of advice that she would like to share with all current and prospective students who may be reading this - and you, my reader, can probably guess what that advice would be: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask lots of questions; especially when there’s something you don’t understand.”

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