Luis Torres

“I loved the complete lack of limitation I’ve felt during my time at UT Dallas. With some initiative and hard work, any student can do what he wants with his education. I took computer science courses in Barcelona and I’ve worked for an incredible research lab among graduate students and postdocs. I achieved this simply because UT Dallas allows for that flexibility as long as a student is persistent.

Computer programming has fascinated me since a young age, beginning with — like so many others — an interest in video game development. The natural next step was to pursue a degree in computer science.

UT Dallas is located in a great city, but I was attracted to the University for the academic rigor, specifically in computer science. It ensures quality graduates, and the scholarship I was offered afforded me lots of freedom to completely absorb myself in my studies and explore all the wonderful opportunities the University provides.

Outside of class, I’ve guided new freshmen as a First Year Leader. I also was elected a senator of Student Government, and I’ve had a show as a DJ on Radio UTD all four years I’ve been here.

The atmosphere here is very open. Everyone seems to be united under a common goal: to work hard for their degree and support others to do the same. Among my close circle of friends, I know students who study arts and performance, pre-health, physics and speech pathology. The coolest thing of all is that we’re all going places, and we all share in the experience, regardless of the disparity of our studies.

Don’t forget to keep an open mind. When I arrived at UT Dallas, I was convinced that I was going to get out of college as soon as possible and work at a game development studio. The very last thing I would’ve ever considered myself doing was conducting research and heading to grad school.

If I hadn’t adopted the ‘try anything once’ mentality in my time here, I would’ve never found what I want to spend my life doing — conducting research. If I hadn’t done the research I wouldn’t be able to get into graduate school and pursue a PhD. The peer-to-peer time with a professor is something you can only get in a laboratory doing research. It’s about tackling a problem together.

Getting the amazing (and humbling) opportunity to study abroad in Barcelona for a semester was probably one of my favorite experiences as a student. I even got to take computer science courses for my major at one of the best universities of technology in Spain. Spending six months in one of the most awe-inspiring cities in the world, learning a new language and seeing my field of study from an entirely different perspective was an experience I’ll always cherish.”

I love the idea of giving back to academia. I’d like to become a professor in computer science so I can continue doing what I love (research) and passing the knowledge I’ve learned to the next generation.”

Luis Torres is pursuing a PhD in computer science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He plans to focus on research in computer graphics and physically-based animation.