FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

We continue our faculty spotlight segment with a focus on Associate Professor Sonya Cates from the Computer Science program, who has been at RWU since 2014.

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?

I grew up in Georgia, in the exurbs of Atlanta.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR DEGREES?

I have Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Math from the University of Chicago. I have an MS and a PhD in Computer Science from MIT.

WHAT OTHER JOBS HAVE YOU HELD?

Before joining the faculty at RWU, I worked in quantitative finance for about seven years. I worked on creating predictive models from very large data sets. I also had quite a few part time jobs while I was in school, including swimming instructor, tech support at an elementary school, computer lab manager, LSAT tutor, and math teacher at a summer program for high school students (just to name a few).

WHAT’S THE LAST BOOK YOU READ FOR FUN?

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells. She is one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend her Murderbot Diaries series.

WHAT’S SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?

I was on a national championship winning cycling team while I was at MIT.

WHY DID YOU WANT TO BE A PROFESSOR?

Growing up I thought I might like to be a professor, but I changed my mind during the course of my PhD and didn’t even consider academic jobs when I graduated. A few years later I gave teaching a try as an adjunct at RWU for one course. I decided I liked it and joined the faculty full time a couple years later.

WHY RWU?

I like that RWU is teaching focused and has small class sizes. I can really get to know all of my students and see their progress through all four years.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON (IN ADDITION TO YOUR ALREADY HEAVY TEACHING LOAD!)?

I have been collaborating with Construction Management professor Issa Ramaji for several years on applications of machine learning and augmented and virtual reality in construction.