Yann Le Gall: Transcending Boundaries
Student. Computer programmer. Artist. Engineer.
These labels all describe University of Pittsburgh student Yann Le Gall. He’s a Princeton grad who decided after earning his bachelor of science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2008—an accomplishment that would make most 22-year-olds ready to call it a day—that he’d like to take his career in a different direction, which led him to Pitt’s computer science program. He’s also a talented artist who creates using traditional drawing and painting methods, as well as image editing software and a digital tablet.
His intensity and motivation have turned more than a few heads on campus. Le Gall has won the Alfred Moyé Information Technology Fellowship, the K. Leroy Irvis Graduate Fellowship, and the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship. He’s also a member of the University’s chapter of the venerable scientific research society Sigma Xi.
His most recent award—the Spring 2010 Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship—has allowed Le Gall to delve more fully into an area that particularly fascinates him. He and sponsoring faculty member, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Adam Lee, have been researching role-based access systems (RBACs).
Le Gall explains RBACs in this way: “Modern organizations are often composed of many entities, and they must communicate with each other and share information securely. There are many examples of this, like banks, IT firms, online retailers, etc. Even on smaller scales, individual users have to manage the visibility of their private data in social networks. RBAC systems try to meet this need by providing an efficient way of determining who is allowed to access what resources.”
The system Lee and Le Gall are developing expands on current research in several ways. First of all, their system will take reputation into account for greater customization. For example, their system can allow someone to set up their RBAC to allow access based on reviews or ratings. Their system will also expand upon current systems that look at compliance (who is allowed access).
“Our work also investigates efficient ways of answering questions like ‘who are all of the users permitted to access resource X?’ (satisfiability) and ‘what are all of the resources that Bob can access?’ (capability),” says Le Gall.
And, lastly, the RBAC system Le Gall and Lee are working on will use a traditional database to store and process queries about access—a feature that will allow these systems to be easily integrated into the corporate world because they can interface with existing IT infrastructure. It was work like this that originally sparked Le Gall’s interest at Princeton. He notes that programming was a requirement for all engineering majors. “Specifically, I did a lot of programming for my senior thesis, and I came to realize that it captured my imagination in a way that engineering didn’t.”
Undeterred by the fact that he’d just completed a challenging major at an Ivy-League school, Le Gall decided to return to his hometown of Pittsburgh and earn the credits needed to enter Pitt’s PhD program in computer science. (He’ll be entering the PhD program this fall.) He’s been at the University for two years so far, and he likes what he sees here.
“Although Princeton’s academics were top-notch, the atmosphere on campus was not always conducive to learning,” Le Gall says, explaining that changes to Princeton’s grading policy (limiting how many A’s, for example, were given out per class) led to an ultra-competitive environment where students were less apt to study together.
Luckily, that hasn’t been the case here. “At Pitt, the professors have said that if you do the work, you’ll get the grade you deserve.”
This fosters a friendlier, more collaborative feel that Le Gall appreciates—and this atmosphere is something he contributes to himself. He enjoys acting as a sort of informal computer lab assistant, helping out undergrads when he’s in the lab between classes. And he’s also a member of a fledgling game development club at Pitt, Coding 4 Play. About a dozen student members are involved, getting together weekly to work on programming a game—a joint endeavor that’s entertaining for members like Le Gall who enjoy writing code, but that’s also a portfolio-builder for those who want to go into the gaming industry.
When Le Gall isn’t studying, working in the lab, or collaborating with other students, he gets in touch with his creative side.
“I’ve been drawing and painting since middle school,” says Le Gall. “Art is a very important part of my life. I find that some form of creative expression has always been necessary for me.”
The thrill of creating something both unique and useful inspire Le Gall, when he’s programming and when he’s making art. There’s a surprising overlap between the two endeavors, he says.
“Although writing code requires a lot of precision and logic,” Le Gall says, “there is also a significant amount of creativity involved, especially when programming games.”
Leave it to Le Gall to find the similarities between the two things he loves. But it’s not a connection everyone makes. He still finds that most of his computer science classmates are shocked to discover he’s an artist as well, and he rarely runs into other scientists who create art too. But this doesn’t bother him.
He’s able to transcend the typical left brain/right brain boundaries and integrate both seamlessly. The mix of art and science in his life works for him.
And, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
For more information on the Department of Computer Science at Pitt, visit http://www.cs.pitt.edu/
To read more about Yann Le Gall
http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~ygl2/