Catalina Vajiac

Ph.D. student, Computer Science

Carnegie Mellon University

cvajiac at cs dot cmu dot edu

About Me

Hi there! I’m a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University advised by Prof. Christos Faloutsos. My work is supported by the NSF GRFP. My work is in the intersection of data mining and visualization for social good projects. More specifically, I’ve worked on finding human sex trafficking online and reducing entry into homelessness through better distribution of rental assistance. You can find my CV here.

Interests

Social good
Anti-Human Trafficking
Visualization and interactive systems

Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science, 2019 - Present

Carnegie Mellon University
B.S. in Computer Science, 2015 - 2019

University of Notre Dame
B.S. in Computing and Applied Mathematics, 2014 - 2018

Saint Mary's College

What’s New

My first-author paper TrafficVis, on visualization for anti-human trafficking, got the best paper honorable mention award at IEEE VIS 2022. See you in Oklahoma City!

My work is now funded by the NSF GRFP!

My first-author paper on anti human trafficking got accepted in IEEE ICDE 2021.

Since June 2020, I’ve been developing an anti-bias initiative at CMU’s Computer Science Department. As part of this initiative, I’ve co-developed the pilot for 15-996: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Computer Science and Society, along with Bailey Flanigan and Sara McAllister.

Honors and Awards

Graduate Student Service Award

Carnegie Mellon University Apr 2022

Graduate Research Fellowship

National Science Foundation Mar 2021

Outstanding Student Award

Computer Science Department, University of Notre Dame May 2019

Anita Borg Scholar

Grace Hopper Conference Sep 2018

Donald E. Miller Award

Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Saint Mary’s College May 2018

Honors on Undergraduate Thesis

Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Saint Mary’s College May 2018

Meritorious Winner

COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling Jan 2017

Outstanding Poster Award

Joint Mathematics Meetings: MAA Undergraduate Poster Session Jan 2017

Indiana Epsilon Inductee

Pi Mu Epsilon Jan 2017