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Featured during a conversation geared toward students who were watching both in-person and virtually, two Illinois Computer Science alumni joined Rashid Bashir, Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering, for an inspiring panel discussion honoring seven winners of the 2023 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.

Two of the seven winners named by Grainger Engineering on March 31 at the NCSA Auditorium were Illinois CS graduates, including Steven Ashby (MS '85, PhD 88) and Ping Fu (MS '90).

Delving further than the honorees own experiences in computing, Bashir stretched thought toward several relevant topics: career preparation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, how to overcome adversity, and grand challenges in engineering that inspire future change for the betterment of all.

The event began with a video that introduced each award winner and shed light on their own personal and professional paths. Fu concluded this video with a thought that resonated, in an altogether unsurprising development considering her own memoir, Bend, Not Break: Life in two worlds, is a New York Times best seller.

If I would have to say one thing, I would say to keep a mental image of mountain ranges, not peaks. The peak is a mental image that our society keeps giving to people, as if going up is the success and going down is the failure, said Fu, who is also a venture and angel investor and co-founder of the software company Geomagic. But you cannot go on to another peak without going down first. Life is a mountain range, not a peak.

In the same video, Ashby encouraged students to expand their horizons intellectually throughout their collegiate experience.

Invest in your education and yourself, Ashby said. You think you are already doing that, but you need to seek opportunities beyond your current studies to learn about different areas, to explore different career paths, so you can make an informed decision about what you want to do with your future.

Ashby currently serves as Director of the Department of Energys Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) a position he said he could never have anticipated if not for the influence of his Ph.D. advisor and late Illinois CS professor Paul Saylor.

His own boundaries expanded literally when Saylor recruited him to UIUC, considering Ashby had never lived outside of his native California. Then the professor expanded his pupils boundaries figuratively, by challenging Ashby academically and professionally.

Paul Saylor recruited me here from Santa Clara University to the cornfields of Illinois, Ashby said. He had a passion for numerical analysis and for his students, and its through him and his tutelage that I had a chance to be successful as a computational scientist. This wasnt just about academic influence; it was a life-long friendship.

I want to mention this, because when you come back and you have these opportunities, its really about the people youre meeting and the connections you make. Its not just a professional engagement, its personal.

Ashby said this earlier in the day when he spoke at the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science as part of the Illinois CS Speaker Series. His presentation entitled "The Breadth of R&D at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, focused on the opportunities PNNL offers students and expanded to explain his own experiences.

At both the Grainger Engineering panel and his presentation at Illinois CS, Ashby emphasized the role connections have played in his career which spans his current leadership position at PNNL, a previous position as PNNLs Deputy Director for Science and Technology, and nearly 21 years with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

While Ashby connected with others to advance his own career and education, Fu explored all that computing has to offer in several different areas to craft her own impact.

Her desire to do so came from an internal drive dedicated to overcoming the adversity she faced in life. Beginning with the moment she came to the United State unable to speak the language and thus not able to study her first choice in college, Fu has looked at CS to prove how much she can accomplish.

Ive really had many moments of adversity in my life, and, when I look back, adversity really is either the best teacher or best opportunity, Fu said. My story about studying computer science began when I first came to the United States. I did not speak much English, and I wanted to study comparative literature. But I couldnt. Computer science was a new science, a new language, and I felt like I was going to be in the same standing as other students.

Thats how I got into computer science, which has pretty much defined my life. Illinois has been such a great place for me. I got my degree there, I got married there, I gave birth to my daughter there, and I started my company there.

From the moment Fu and Ashby began studying and then graduated from Illinois CS, their examples have shined as the reason why Bashir brought these seven alumni together to celebrate their awards.

A very, very special thank you to our award recipients for sharing your Grainger Engineering memories, industry insights, advice, and grand challenges, Bashir said. Were really so fortunate to have such brilliant, accomplished individuals as part of our community to make us so proud and who are changing the world. The continued success of Grainger Engineering lies in our people.

Read the original announcement of this award from The Grainger College of Engineering.

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Ashby, Fu Share Their Shining Examples as Winners of the 2023 ... - Illinois Computer Science News