{"id":36417,"date":"2026-02-03T12:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/stem\/?p=36417"},"modified":"2026-03-16T09:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:51:27","slug":"csse-masters-student-gains-meaningful-experience-in-app-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/stem\/news\/2026\/02\/03\/csse-masters-student-gains-meaningful-experience-in-app-development","title":{"rendered":"CSSE\u00a0master\u2019s\u00a0student gains meaningful experience in app development\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Coming from a computer science background, graduate student Kris Yu came to UW Bothell wanting to get hands-on experience in developing apps. Yu discovered the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/stem\/graduate\/mscsse\">Master of Science in Computer Science &amp; Software Engineering program<\/a> and saw it as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the software powering this technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his first year, he entered Apple\u2019s Swift Student Challenge, a global app development contest for student developers \u2013 and ended up being chosen as one of 350 winners. His winning app design, Forest Guardian, puts players in a forest where they face environmental challenges, encouraging them to make better choices to gain points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, he plans to submit to the contest again. He is currently finishing work on a learning app for individuals with autism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This app is being made alongside Dr. Annuska Zolyomi, assistant professor in the Department of Computer &amp; Software Systems, whose research focuses on autism and social interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cProfessor Zolyomi asked me if I\u2019d like to help her implement the research into a real tool that could help people have a better life, and I thought, \u2018Hell yes, I\u2019d love to do that,\u2019\u201d Yu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about these apps and how Yu looks ahead to a career in tech in the UW Bothell story, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/29\/applying-software-engineering-to-real-world-problems\">Applying software engineering to real-world problems<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyuw.com\/article\/uw-bothell-research-team-develops-app-to-assist-individuals-with-autism-and-their-families-20260303\" id=\"https:\/\/www.dailyuw.com\/article\/uw-bothell-research-team-develops-app-to-assist-individuals-with-autism-and-their-families-20260303\">The Daily features an article<\/a> about the app development with Zolyomi and Yu. Learn more about how they are designing an app to help individuals with autism and their families navigate everyday social situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of his graduation in the spring, CSSE master\u2019s student Kris Yu looks back at his journey to app development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":637,"featured_media":36418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13,9,7],"tags":[],"school":[],"class_list":["post-36417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-computing-software-systems-css","category-innovation","category-research","category-students"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CSSE\u00a0master\u2019s\u00a0student gains meaningful experience in app development\u00a0 - School of Science, Technology, Engineering &amp; Mathematics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/stem\/news\/2026\/02\/03\/csse-masters-student-gains-meaningful-experience-in-app-development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CSSE\u00a0master\u2019s\u00a0student gains meaningful experience in app development\u00a0 - School of Science, Technology, Engineering &amp; Mathematics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ahead of his graduation in the spring, CSSE master\u2019s student Kris Yu looks back at his journey to app development.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/stem\/news\/2026\/02\/03\/csse-masters-student-gains-meaningful-experience-in-app-development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Science, Technology, Engineering &amp; 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