Student Profiles

Alan Hogan
Junior
Computer Science, Minor: Spanish

Alan Hogan was the 2006 Greenville High School (Greenville, Pa.) co-valedictorian. Today, the ASU junior and computer science major is happy with his college choice and career path.

"I like that the department is so big. There are not only a lot of unique and interesting courses, but the professors are doing some amazing research. That's a big difference between ASU as a research school and some of the smaller colleges I was considering," Alan said. "New concepts, new applications, new solutions and new ways of thinking are being born right here on campus, and I have opportunities to be involved with them."

Early in his college search, Alan was considering universities that were smaller and closer to home. Ultimately though, he was won over by ASU's warm weather and array of scholastic pursuits. "The many programs offered here assured me that if I ever changed majors, and whatever minor I pursued, ASU would have what I needed!"

Alan, a student in Barrett, The Honors College, played with the Pan Devils, ASU's steel drum band, during his freshman year. He currently serves as president of the ASU Software Developers Association. He's also interned two summers with Fidelity National Information Services. Alan said, "It was a very valuable experience, as I learned not only about the technologies with which they work, but also about the corporate environment." Alan attended a technical talk planned by the SCI Advising Center, hosted by Ustrive2, Inc., an innovative new company in Phoenix. The contacts he made at the technical talk led to an internship, where he is now an Associate Developer. “Our current products allow everyone to sell whatever they want on their website, blog, and social networking profiles."

Currently, the research that Alan's most enthusiastic about is dynamic Web site design and content management. "The web has gotten so huge that it's not just about HTML anymore; it's about people, it's about relationships. I don't mean dating, but rather data," Alan said. "The algorithms used by companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon to make sense out of the disparate bits of data on the Web are fascinating to me."

He has done some research on locating Hamiltonian circuits with Dr. Susanna Fishel in ASU's Math department and was able to present it at the Southwestern Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference. Through the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative, he worked with Dr. Subbarao Kambhampati and graduate student Garrett Wolf on how to organize and represent helpful, but potentially confusing, soft-matching query results from large, error-prone databases.

Alan states his current career goal is to be lead developer at a small, flexible, innovative company.