The Grubb Lab
The Grubb lab is the software engineering lab in the Department of Computer Science at Smith College. Our work focuses on goal modeling, and how stakeholders can effectively use models in collaboration. Goal models are a collection of nodes and links that represent the intentions of stakeholders and tradeoffs within the system under consideration. They can be used to make decisions in early-phase requirements engineering as well as in other contexts. The following image is an example of a goal model created in our tool BloomingLeaf, a browser-based tool developed by the lab. See below to join us. 
Lab Members
Dr. Alicia M. Grubb (Principal Investigator 2019-Present)
Alicia is from Canada and loves maple syrup and gooses (and duckies). When they are not in the lab, they can be found riding bikes or paddling a kayak on Smith College’s Paradise Pond.
Yesugen Baatartogtokh ’23 (Volunteer Spring 2021, SURF 2021, NSF Funded 2021-2022, SURF 2022, Senior Honors Thesis 2022-23)
Yesugen is a Computer Science major from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Outside of academics, she enjoys being outdoors, cuddling with her cat, reading, and creative writing.
Irene Foster ‘23 (SURF 2021, NSF Funded 2021-2022, SURF 2022, NSF Funded 2022-2023)
Irene is a Statistical & Data Science major and a Environmental Science & Policy minor from Saugerties, NY. She joined the lab in June 2021. Outside of the lab she enjoys playing hockey, hiking, and running.
Anisha Jain ‘25 (STRIDE 2021-2023, SURF 2022)
Anisha is pursuing a computer science major and is from Fairfax, VA. Outside of academics she enjoys drinking tea and reading cheesy novels.
Venus Nguyen ‘25 (AEMES 2021-2023, SURF 2022)
Venus is from Springfield, MA and is aiming towards majoring in computer science. Venus enjoys anything related to art, keeping busy and eating good!
Thu Tran ‘24 (Volunteer Spring 2022, NSF Funded 2022-2023)
Thu is a Computer Science major from Vietnam. Outside of classes, she enjoys taking random photos, watching Youtube and taking walks with friends and family.
Cyrine Ben Ayed ‘24 (Volunteer Spring 2022, NSF Funded Fall 2022)
Cyrine is an Engineering Science major and a Computer Science minor from Tunis, Tunisia. Outside of the lab, she can be found practicing with the Squash team, dancing, or drawing.
Sonora Halili ‘25 (Volunteer Spring 2022, SURF 2022, Work Study 2022-2023)
Sonora is a Computer Science major from Elbasan, Albania. Outside the lab, she enjoys traveling, watching trashy reality TV, and trying out new coffee flavors when possible.
Joey Elsbernd ‘25 (SURF 2022, STRIDE 2022-2023)
Joey is a future computer science major from Miami, Florida. In her free time she enjoys playing ice hockey, watching bad reality television, and painting ugly pictures of her beautiful dogs.
Xinran Bi ‘25J (SURF 2022, Special Studies 2022-23, SURF 2023)
Xinran is a Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics double major from Shanghai, China. Outside of academics, she enjoys singing in different languages, binge-watching anime, and cooking.
Sasha Yeutseyeva ‘23 (Senior Honors Thesis 2022-23)
Sasha is majoring in computer science and statistical and data sciences and is from Ontario, Canada. Outside of academics Sasha likes to explore new coffee shops and the local area with friends.
Molly Daniel ‘26 (STRIDE 2022-2024, SURF 2023)
Molly is a computer science major from Evanston, Illinois. She joined the lab in September 2022. Outside of academics, she enjoys playing hockey and video games.
Emily Kung ‘26 (STRIDE 2022-2024, SURF 2023)
Emily aims toward pursuing computer science and fine arts. Her favorite hobby includes watching anime, reading manga, and playing video games.
Megan Varnum ‘24 (STRIDE 2019-2021, SURF 2020, Volunteer Fall 2022, Special Studies Spring 2023)
Megan is from Eastern Washington and joined the lab as a STRIDE student in September 2019. She is pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics. Outside of academics, Megan competes on the varsity Smith College track and cross country team.
Bobi Arce Mack ‘24 (Volunteer Fall 2022, NSF Funded Spring 2023)
Bobi is a Computer Science major from San Diego, California. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, trying new things, and traveling.
Annie Karitonze ‘25J (Volunteer Fall 2022, Special Studies Spring 2023, SURF 2023)
Annie is a double major in Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics from Burundi. She enjoys dancing, reading and hanging out with friends when she is not in class.
Karenna Kung 25 (SURF 2023)
Karenna is from Salem, Connecticut and is a Computer Science and Statistics & Data Science major. Outside of academics, they enjoy playing soccer, hiking, and Shrek the Musical.
Emma Ruckle 25 (SURF 2023)
Emma is a Computer Science major and a Statistical and Data Sciences minor from Rye, New Hampshire. Outside of academics, she enjoys crochet, reading and sharks.
Caroline Zouloumian 25 (SURF 2023)
Caroline is a Computer Science major from Nay, France. Outside of the lab she enjoys taking pictures, going for walks, playing music and traveling.
Lab Alumni and Recent Members
Yilin Lucy Wang ‘20 (SURF 2019, Senior Honors Thesis 2019-20)
Isabella Brody-Calixto ‘21 (Special Studies Fall 2020 & Spring 2021)
Ali Eshghi ‘21 (Special Studies Fall 2020 & Spring 2021)
Lauren Forando ‘21 (Work Study 2019)
Isabel Montesanto ‘21 (Senior Honors Thesis 2020-21)
Ester Zhao ‘21 (Special Studies Fall 2020 & Spring 2021)
Ella Chang ‘22 (Special Studies Fall 2020)
Sophie Crane ‘22 (Special Studies Fall 2020)
Omema Ibrahim ‘22 (SURF 2019)
Catherine Kung ‘22 (SURF 2021, NSF Funded 2021-2022)
Kate (Max) Spencer ‘22 (Volunteer 2020, SURF 2020, Special Studies Spring 2021)
Naomi Cebula ‘23J (SURF 2019, Special Studies Fall 2019)
Kathleen Hablutzel ‘23J (STRIDE 2020-2021, NSF Funded 2021-2022, NSF Funded Fall 2022)
Lily Diao ‘23 (SURF 2019, Special Studies Fall 2019)
Yanning Tan ‘23 (Special Studies Fall 2020, Volunteer Spring 2021, Special Studies Fall 2021, NSF Funded Spring 2022)
Manar Alnazer ‘24 (SURF 2021)
Angela Chu (SURF 2021)
How to Join
We are seeking new lab members interested in both software development and requirements research. There are different ways to conduct research in the Grubb Lab (e.g., volunteer, special studies, SURF, STRIDE, AEMES, or a senior honors thesis project). Those interested in development or software engineering research should have completed or be currently enrolled in CSC212/210. Ideally, students interested in pursuing a Senior Honors Thesis should contact Alicia in their junior year. Interested? Contact Alicia. Not sure what to say? Review the “Recommendations for Emailing Professors” on the Research at Smith page. Want to know what it’s like? Reach out to one of our current or past members.
SURF
Each summer I accept 5-8 students interested in software development and/or empirical research (i.e., Software Engineering).
We usually have at least one development project ongoing using our tool BloomingLeaf and this summer is no exception. We seek the help of enthusiastic students with strong programming skills and an exposure to web development (javaScript), who have excellent communication skills (written/verbal English) and an ability to work independently and collaboratively. Our online codebase will help you create a portfolio for future applications to employers and graduate schools. In prior development projects, we worked on refactoring our code base to enable new model management features and restructured the code base to take advantage of underlying libraries. Our next step is to continue to implement new visualizations and a goal modeling workflow.
For those more interested in empirical software engineering research, we are currently working on evaluating the usability of some of the algorithms we’ve developed over the past two years. Past SURF research projects include studying goal model construction and evaluating a framework for uncertainty. Additionally, we are investigating how to model artifacts in a GitHub repository. These are evolving projects and we welcome the insights of enthusiastic students interested in research, who have excellent communication skills (written/verbal English) and an ability to work independently and collaboratively. Students with an interest in research and/or an interest in quantitative (e.g., spreadsheets, r, statistics) or qualitative (e.g., open coding, ethnography) data analysis should state this on their application.
