People

Professor Peggy Doerschuk is the founder and director of the INSPIRED Program. Dr. Doerschuk has led students in research in artificial intelligence and robotics for over fifteen years. She has published 35 papers on artificial intelligence, robotics, education, and research and mentoring programs for undergraduates.

Dr. Doerschuk enjoys reading, gardening, cooking, bird watching, and biking.

Dr. Jiangjiang (Jane) Liu is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Lamar University. She received the B.Eng. degree in Computer Engineering from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, P.R. China, in 1997 and the M.S. and then the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering, from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, in 2004.
Dr. Liu co-organized WIRED summer camps for girls in middle and high schools, visited local high schools during career days, and participated in Spring/Fall Open House, Mathfest, and Week of Welcome.
Her research interests are in computer architecture with an emphasis on: high-performance, low-power, and cost-effective memory system design for Chip Multiprocessing (CMP), Embedded Systems, and SoC. She has authored and coauthored over 10 refereed papers.

Valerie is the youngest of the founding members of the INSPIRE Team. She is a freshman majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Valerie graduated from Hardin Jefferson Highschool and is currently part of the Honors Program in Lamar. She is also the current SGA Representative for ACM.

Jigar Solanki is our first graduate student in the INSPIRE Team. He is pursuing a Masters in Computer Science here at Lamar University. Jigar completed his undergraduate in Mechanical Engineer in Visvesvaraya National Institue of Technology in India. He also worked in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited [BHEL] as a Systems Engineer for two years.

Kelli is a post-bac student, earning her second degree in Computer Science. She has her first degree in Music Composition. She developed an interest in robots during a project in Fall 2007. Since then, she's been working on learning to program and researching the robot-to-robot communication.

Her interests range from anime to mythology to technology.

Girish Thombare is a graduate student in the INSPIRE team pursuing Master's degree in Computer Science at Lamar University. Girish received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from College of Engineering, Pune. Girish has worked with National Stock Exchange of India for one year and then with Gemstone Systems Pvt. Ltd. for two years in the area of distributed systems.

Girish's research interest lies in distributed computing, artificial intelligence and database management. Apart from this, he likes reading books, playing and watching cricket, tennis and soccer.

Kelly started her college career as a CS undergrad at UT-Austin. After three years, she moved to the Beaumont area and spent a year off from school, working. She then transferred to Lamar, still in CS, and in a matter of months was approached and became the most recent member of the INSPIRED team.

Kelley Lester is a sophomore working on a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. She has three children that she enjoys playing video games with. She lived in Germany for three years. While there, her son was born in Heidelberg.

Kelley enjoys video games, reading, and driving really fast.

Hi, I'm Daniel J. Vincent II. I'm a 19 year old Sophomore pursuing a degree in Computer Science and a newbie to INSPIRED. This is my second semister in the program. I enjoy playing video games, reading about video games, and watching the newest Naruto

Cynthia joined the INSPIRED team in Spring 2009. She is a junior majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Cynthia graduated as Valedictorian (Class of 2007) from West Hardin CCISD and is currently part of the Honors Program at Lamar University. In her spare time, she enjoys read, playing games, and watching TV.

Vanessa joined INSPIRED fall 2008. She graduated for West Hardin in 2006 and is now majoring in Computer Science at Lamar University. Her hobbies include: playing games, reading, gardening, and driving her 1997 Mazda Miata.