Students can follow many possible paths in the MIT curriculum, which can circulate through various departments, combining coursework and disciplines in unexpected ways. With so many options, charting your academic path can be overwhelming, but a fresh tool called NerdXing comes to the rescue.
The brainchild of senior Julianna Schneider and other students from the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Undergraduate Advisory Group (UAG), NerdXing allows students to search for classes and view all other classes students have taken in the past, including options that are off the beaten path.
“I hope that NerdXing will democratize course knowledge for everyone,” says Schneider. “I hope that anyone who’s a freshman and maybe hasn’t chosen a major yet can go to NerdXing and start with a class that they might have never thought of taking and then discover that, ‘Oh wait, this is perfect for this particular thing I want to study.’”
As a double major in Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making and Mathematics and conducting research in Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Schneider knows the advantages of interdisciplinary studies. That’s part of why she joined UAG, which advises the leadership of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing in supporting education and research at the intersection of computer science, engineering, the arts, and more.
In all of its activities, Schneider strives to improve people’s lives through technology.
“The process of finding a problem in my community and then finding the right technology to solve it — that kind of approach and framework guides everything I do,” Schneider says. “Even in robotics, the things I care about are driven by the skills I think we need to develop to have meaningful applications.”
From Albania to MIT
Before she ever touched a robot or wrote code, Schneider was an accomplished newborn classical pianist in Albania. When she discovered her passion for robotics at the age of 13, she used some of the skills she had learned playing the piano.
“I think at some basic level, when I was a pianist, I was constantly thinking about my motor dynamics as a human being and how I perform really complex skills, but I perform them at the highest level over and over again,” Schneider says. “In terms of robotics, I was building these robotic arms that had to perform at the highest level every time and perform really complex tasks. For me, it was kind of like a fun crossover.”
Schneider joined her high school’s robotics team in middle school and immediately fell in love with it, eventually taking over most of the team’s coding and robot building work. She went on to win 14 regional and national awards on the three teams she coached throughout junior high and high school. It was clear to her that she had found her calling.
NerdXing wasn’t Schneider’s first experience creating fresh technology. When she was just 16, she created an app that would connect English-speaking volunteers at her international school in Tirana, Albania with local charities that posted job opportunities only in Albanian. Last year, the platform, called VoluntYOU, had 18 ambassadors on four continents. This enabled volunteers to distribute over 2,000 burritos in Reno, Nevada; register hundreds of signatures in support of women’s rights legislation in Albania; and helping to administer Covid-19 vaccines to more than 1,200 people a day in Italy.
Schneider says her experience at an international school encouraged her to notice the problems and solutions around her.
“When I walk into a new community and I immediately say, ‘Oh wait, if we had this tool, it would be great and it would help all these people.’ I think it’s just a consequence of growing up in a place where you hear about everyone’s different life experiences,” she says.
Schneider describes NerdXing as an extension of many of the skills she acquired while creating VoluntYOU.
“They were both motivated by seeing a challenge where I thought, ‘Wait, we have the technical skills to build this. I can imagine solving this problem.’ And then I wanted to actually do it,” Schneider says.
Robotics with positive results
At MIT, Schneider began working in Professor Sangbae Kim’s Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory, where she is currently involved in three research projects, one of which she co-authored on a paper. He is part of a team that is testing how robots, including the famed mini cheetah that jumps backwards, move to see how they could complement humans in tough situations.
Much of her work has focused on creating controllers, including one hybrid-learning and model-driven controller that is well-suited to robots with circumscribed onboard processing power. This would allow the robot to be used in regions with less access to technology.
“It’s not just about creating technology for technology’s sake, but also because it will enter the world and bring positive change. I think legged robots have some of the best potential to actually be a robotic partner to humans in scenarios where the stakes are the highest,” says Schneider.
Schneider hopes to continue developing robotics to find applications that will serve communities around the world. One of its goals is to lend a hand create tools that will allow surgeons to operate on patients over long distances.
To take a break from academics, Schneider channeled her love of the arts into MIT’s dynamic ballroom dance scene. This year, she’s particularly excited about the country dance performances, where music plays and students have to guess the choreography.
“I think it’s a really cool way to make friends and connect with the community,” she says.