Computer science ace aiming to support others with her gifts

As an eighth-grader taking a computer science class in her native India, a confused Yashi Yadav was struggling badly and asked for help. A tutor she connected with helped Yadav develop skills that went on to spark her life’s work.

“Everything clicked and he made it so nice," said Yadav, B.S. '23. "It was like putting a puzzle together, and I went from almost failing to getting 90 out of 100. I started fixing all the problems. I love it when the red things go away, and everything works.”

Now, as a graduate student studying computer science at Purdue University Fort Wayne, almost everything Yadav tries with a computer works—and she’s often the one struggling students turn to for help.

“She loves to encourage younger students,” said Samiya Qasmi, a computer engineering major and Yadav’s roommate. “She loves teaching about it, and you can always see her eyes light up when talking about anything computer science.”

After taking online classes for a year, Yadav finished her PFW undergraduate work in two years and is on track to finish her master’s degree a semester early in December.

Some of Yadav’s personal work has real-world applications that can help others. Before arriving at PFW, she had no idea she was dealing with Meares-Irlen Syndrome, a reading disability in which print and environment look different. Symptoms can include slow or inefficient reading, eye strain, fatigue, and headaches.

To address her own set of circumstances, Yadav wrote adaptive reading companion software that encodes a document so she can read more effectively. She’s also added to the program to help with dyslexia and allow it to read with other vision problems. Now she wants to expand the work even more so it can select a person’s difficulty and then translate. And instead of cashing in, she plans on giving the technology away.

“I just made it for me, but now I want to make it so anyone can use it who has a reading disability,” Yadav said. “I don’t want to patent it, because if I patent it, companies would have to buy it and then they would want to make a profit off it. Then it would be expensive and unavailable to some of those who need it.”

Yadav continues to tinker with the program, usually when inspiration hits. One night, she created a virtual assistant that can tell time and other functions using “Star Wars” references, such as saying, “Hi, young Padawan.”

Those are things Yadav does for fun, but she’s doing more serious deep learning research under Amal Khalifa, assistant professor of computer science.

“From the start of the class, it wasn’t hard to recognize her energy,” Khalifa said. “Currently, we are working on a research project in the field of information security, and she is helping me mentor five undergraduate students in their senior capstone project. I know she is taking different roles on campus, and I can say that she is a dedicated, hardworking person.”

One of those roles is working with Adolfo Coronado, chair of the Department of Computer Science, on projects introducing drones and other studies to middle school, high school, and incoming college students. Yadav also works with the Career Development Center and gives tours as part of International Student Services.

“She always rises to the challenge and goes above and beyond in her academic pursuits,” Coronado said. “Her passion for reaching underrepresented populations and educating them on STEM and computer science is truly remarkable. All of these accomplishments are only made more impressive by Yashi's positive attitude. She thoroughly enjoys every aspect of what she does, and her enthusiasm is contagious.”

Yadav regularly bugs Coronado and other computer science professors about what she might be able to add to their projects.

“Yashi takes using your time wisely to the furthest extent as everywhere you turn, it seems she is there,” said Ranesha Smith, director of student success and advising for ETCS, B.S. ‘15. “It is like she creates time all while excelling at each undertaking.”

Living up to such faculty praise can be hard, but Yadav, a PFW Top 50 recipient in 2023. has a higher purpose in the world. She wants to use her life to thank her mother for all her singular support and encouragement to study in America.

“If I’m working on something, it will be for the good of society and help people live,” Yadav said. “That’s the kind of thing I like doing.”