‘Intellectual curiosity, relentless perseverance’: Meet multi-major engineer Edward Kempa 

No one will ever accuse Edward Kempa of being an underachiever.  

Kempa is graduating this spring with double majors – his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Department of Computer and Information Science Engineering (CISE) and a bachelor’s in economics. As well as double minors in German and business administration. After graduation, he plans to pursue his doctorate in computer science, with a research focus on applications of machine learning in health care. 

His interest in research began in 2023 when he enrolled in the Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) course, AI Ethics Framework, taught by Instructional Associate Professor Ashish Aggarwal of the Department of Engineering Education. CURE allows students to customize their research project within a framework set by the university. 

“Working with Edward over the past three years has revealed qualities that truly set him apart: his intellectual curiosity, relentless perseverance and commitment to excellence,” said Aggarwal.  

“He approaches research challenges with genuine fascination. At every step, from winning first place at the ACM SIGCSE Student Research Competition to publishing research at an international conference, he brought initiative and energy that elevated every project he was part of,” Aggarwal added. 

Kempa and five other students met weekly during the semester. Learning about qualitative research methods and ethical analysis helped them build a foundation of critical and ethical thinking. They also learned qualitative research methods and studied trolley problem-style scenarios related to AI decision-making. 

“This work and the structured assignments helped refine both our thinking and execution,” Kempa said, adding, “One of the most important realizations for me was how closely the structure of the course mirrored that of a real research paper.” 

The course culminated in the group presenting a poster at the UF Spring Research Symposium. That led to Aggarwal suggesting they compete in the 2024 ACM SIGCSE 2024 Student Research Competition (SRC).  

ACM is the Association for Computing Machinery, and the ACM Student Research Competition (ACM SRC) offers a unique forum for both undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research papers before judges and attendees. 

A series of flight delays almost caused Kempa to miss presenting his poster in the first round of the SRC at the ACM SIGCSE 2024 conference, but after a change into his suit at the airport, he arrived with two hours to spare.  

He was surprised to learn he’d advanced to the final round, despite not having prepared a slide presentation. But that night, over six hours, he “created project-specific animations and transitions and carefully staged how results were introduced visually. This experience marked the beginning of my passion for presentation design and visualization, which I have continued to develop since,” Kempa said. 

After about an hour of practicing his presentation the next morning, he went on to win first place, and in 2025, he published a paper at ITiCSE 2025 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. 

ITiCSE is the ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, with the goal of uniting participants from around the world and focusing on pressing issues within the field of computing education. 

“Attending conferences has consistently been a valuable learning experience for me – not only for seeing the work others are doing, but also for learning from how others present and write. Observing effective communication styles has been instrumental in my growth as a researcher,” Kempa said. 

“This journey – from a CURE course to international publication – taught me that research is iterative, collaborative and built on persistence. With strong mentorship, meaningful engagement and a willingness to learn from setbacks, undergraduate research is accessible to any motivated student,” he added.