Sitara Uppalapati
Written by Celesia Smith
Major: Canfield BHP, Computer Science Honors
Internship: Incoming STEP Intern at Google
Topics of Interest: Sustainability, Financial Market Policy, Cooking, Reading
As one of the world’s leading research universities, there are a variety of opportunities for students to explore and discover various disciplines. For Sitara Uppalapati, Canfield BHP and Computer Science Honors sophomore, the disciplines she wanted to learn more about were finance, policy, and technology. As an Undergraduate Research Assistant conducting research at the intersection of financial policy and computer science, she fosters her knowledge in the very areas she’s interested in while developing various skills along the way.
Sitara found her position while perusing UT’s research database. As an out-of-state student who lives near D.C., Sitara said she always found herself academically engaged in government and policy.
“Living so close to the nation’s Capitol basically all my life just really allowed me to immerse myself in understanding the government through visiting DC often and going on trips to museums or monuments and just being involved with government things (in high school),” Sitara said. “At the same time, as a computer science student I absolutely love the technical aspects of all things. One thing I’ve just always known I’ve wanted to do is harness technology to create a positive impact on the world around me.”
Sitara’s research is certainly impactful; she said her project has the potential to impact regulations and policies on a grander level. Starting in October 2019, Sitara has researched the level of influence the academic world has on policy.
“At a high level, our research’s goal is to understand the influence that academic research or economic principles have on financial market policies,” Sitara said. “We’re trying to determine – quantitatively – the extent to which academic work actually influences the decisions that are made by federal regulators because there is no current database or solution right now that has the information needed to make that determination.”
Sitara said the project is perfect for her because it allows her to combine her interests of policy, finance, and technology all into one.
“We’re using computer science techniques, such as natural language processing and machine learning methods, to extract and analyze data from different sources related to these financial market rules,” she said. “I’m able to use computer science to determine the impact of academic work on decision making at the federal level.”
Because of the natural intersection of Sitara’s research, her experience as a CSB student has proved incredibly helpful because of the rigorous nature of the program. From technical to analytical skills, everything she’s learned has supported her in the research process.
“CSB has really helped me in that I get to dive into the actual technical aspects of this project when it comes to the computer science part of it and then also use the problem-solving skills I developed from both Canfield BHP and CS,” Sitara said. “The classes we take and the work we do, whether it be MIS or the innovation entrepreneurship class, really helps us build on our problem-solving skills and learn how to navigate challenges and come up with creative solutions. That’s really helped me in research because I’ve enjoyed being able to come up with ideas, evaluate the pros or cons, and then test them and then go back and try to improve on it iteratively.”