Each week we're featuring a Q&A with a member of our faculty in the School of Computing. Get to know some of our professors! This week we're featuring Associate Professor Bonita Sharif.
What are your research areas or areas of specialty/interest?
My research is in software engineering and human computer interaction. I love to work at the intersection of fields since that’s where a lot of interesting problems lie. It gives me the opportunities to learn from different expertise areas other than my own. I like to study how software developers work and try to help make that process more productive based on evidence-based studies. Software engineering is a relatively young field, and we have a lot to learn from other disciplines that have been around a lot longer than we have. I’ve worked in various sub-fields in software engineering such as program comprehension, software traceability, code readability, and software visualization. I am currently the lead PI in the development of iTrace, an open source eye tracking infrastructure that makes it easy to conduct large scale studies in software engineering within the integrated development environment. See https://www.i-trace.org for more information. There is still a lot more we want to support and add to this infrastructure.
What courses are you teaching this year? If you are not teaching, what projects are you working on?
This past year I co-taught SOFT 161 (Software Engineering II), was tribe lead for six senior design teams, and taught the requirements elicitation and modeling course. While I am not teaching, I love working on my research projects and planning the next study I want to conduct. I also love volunteering in my community both local and professional. I volunteer at the Lincoln Track Club, Lincoln Youth Symphony, and Girls Code Lincoln.
How did you first become interested in computing or your specific area of computing?
I got into computing because of animated movies. I love them. Still do. Frozen is my favorite movie. When my first dream job of working at Pixar did not pan out, I decided to stay in the field because I kind of liked what I was able to do with design and code. I love building things both in the design space and the implementation space. But I did not get in with the intention of doing those things to begin with.
What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of computing? What do you enjoy most about those?
Besides computing, I love running, racing, knitting, playing the piano, and crocheting. All these activities are just calming and help me relax. OK, maybe the racing is not relaxing (if racing is relaxing, you’re not doing it right!) but I got 4 out of 5 that are relaxing. Gotta mix it up a bit for a challenge.
What is your favorite weekend activity?
The long run of course. And then recovering from the long run.
Where is your favorite place you've traveled?
Kauai, Hawaii. It was the most beautiful place I have visited to date. The snorkeling was the best.
What is your favorite food?
Sushi.
What is a fun fact or something other members of the school may not know about you?
My favorite video game is Doom. First played in 1993 on MS-DOS.
What is your favorite thing about being a part of the School of Computing?
Being able to be part of a cohesive group of people who help you grow is awesome. My mentors have been very supportive. I enjoy working with students on research projects. I am fortunate to have hard working and motivated students in my research group. We learn and figure things out together. I enjoy discussing teaching and learning concepts with my colleagues as well as students. There is still so much we can learn from each other.