My Thesis is the Bridge: Why I'm Pursuing Both Computer Science and Civil Justice
January 2025 | Academic Journey
When I tell people I'm pursuing both Computer Science and Civil Justice at Rutgers, I often get puzzled looks. "How do those connect?" they ask. The truth is, they're not just connected—they're two sides of the same coin in my mission to understand and build systems that work for people.
The Bridge Between Worlds
My journey began in the most unlikely of places: a prison cell. While incarcerated, I devoured books on systems thinking, organizational strategy, and human behavior. I realized that the chaos I had experienced in my own life wasn't just personal failure—it was a systems failure. The same frameworks I used to understand my own situation could be applied to understand how organizations, communities, and societies function (or dysfunction).
This realization led me to a fundamental question: How do we create systems that empower individuals while maintaining the coordination necessary for collective success?
Computer Science: The Language of Systems
Computer Science gives me the technical vocabulary and tools to model, analyze, and build systems. Whether it's algorithms that optimize resource allocation, data structures that organize information efficiently, or software architectures that scale with human needs, CS provides the building blocks for creating systems that work.
But technology alone isn't enough. The most elegant algorithm is useless if it doesn't serve human needs. The most sophisticated software fails if it doesn't understand the human context in which it operates.
Civil Justice: The Human Context
Civil Justice provides the human dimension—the understanding of how laws, policies, and social structures impact real people. It teaches me about the historical, cultural, and psychological factors that shape how systems function in practice.
Through Civil Justice, I learn about:
- The historical roots of systemic inequality
- How policy decisions ripple through communities
- The psychology of decision-making in high-stakes environments
- The role of institutions in shaping human behavior
The Synthesis: Building Better Systems
My thesis is that the most powerful solutions come from bridging these two worlds. When we combine the precision and scalability of computer science with the human-centered understanding of civil justice, we can create systems that are both technically sound and socially just.
This isn't just academic theory for me. It's the foundation of my research at Princeton's Velez CoLab, where I'm investigating the coordination-adaptation tradeoff in human collaboration. It's the lens through which I understand my past experiences as a swim coach, where I had to balance individual technique with team coordination.
Looking Forward
My goal isn't to become either a pure technologist or a pure legal scholar. Instead, I want to be a bridge builder—someone who can translate between these worlds and create solutions that serve both technical excellence and human dignity.
Whether I'm developing algorithms for fair resource allocation, designing systems that reduce bias in decision-making, or creating platforms that empower communities to organize effectively, my dual background gives me the tools to build solutions that work in the real world.
Because at the end of the day, the most important systems aren't the ones that process data the fastest or scale the highest—they're the ones that help people thrive together.
My thesis is the bridge. And I'm building it, one connection at a time.