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| John Doucette was an active participant in the CS Society. (Danny Abriel Photo) |
While most kids were still figuring out high school, John Doucette got his first taste of ±«Óătv computer science. Home-schooled, he had completed his classwork at the age of 15 and was planning to work for a couple of years before starting university. But his mom had other ideas.
âShe gave me the course calendar for Dal and said âpick one,ââ he recalls. âI chose a CS class and was hooked.â
Mr. Doucette, from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, started full-time studies at 17 and quickly became a familiar face in the Goldberg Computer Science Building. Heâs served in six different roles on the CS Society executive â including president â and this past year was the Facultyâs representative on DSU council.
His contributions were recognized with the FCS Root Award for outstanding, prolonged leadership and contributions to the CS community â heâs only the third student to ever receive the honour.
Heâs also a stellar honours student, with three NSERC undergraduate student research awards to his name. His thesis work concerns computational evolution â computer programs that make new computer programs better over time â and finding solutions that people wouldnât necessarily come up with.
âGenerally, you set up these systems so that the best programs get to reproduce,â he explains. âWhat Iâm studying is novelty, where instead of rewarding the fittest, you reward the most different. Itâs useful for figuring out when the criteria youâre using to assess your programs is actually wrong.â
His work has taken him to conferences in Montreal, Naples and Istanbul, and will next lead him to the University of Waterloo where heâll be doing his masterâs degree in computer science.