Ismael Villegas Molina

Ismael Villegas Molina

he/him/el

Ph.D. Candidate @ UCSD | Computer Science Education | U.S. Latines in Computing

Service and Outreach

Contributions to Diversity

UCSD CSE Graduate Award: Excellence in Contributions to Diversity (2024)

Recognizing meaningful efforts to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity within the department and broader STEM community. This award honors sustained contributions such as mentorship, outreach, advocacy, or leadership that foster a more inclusive and supportive environment in computer science and engineering.

Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellow (Spring 2024 - Spring 2026)

As described on the 3C website, “The Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows Program is a two-year, cohort-based, virtual professional development program that helps computing faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students: 1) learn more social science topics (e.g., identity, intersectionality, racism, bias, and discrimination) as well as how these topics manifest in academic environments and technologies; and 2) develop sustainable projects (courses, modules, and other activities) at their home institutions that leverage these topics, making direct connections between the biases in AI technologies and the biases in academic/professional environments, the historical contexts of both, and the long-term impacts on both technology creators and consumers.”

I am completing the program in Cohort 5!

UCSD CSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (2023-2024)

The CSE DEI Community is a group of dedicated faculty, students and staff working on promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion efforts across the department.

Mentoring

Student Research Mentoring

I have been involved in mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students during my PhD. I try to approach mentoring with a philosophy of choosing students to mentor that I feel I can truly support in their career development. I tend not to select students to mentor who already have a very strong resume with loads of experience and projects. I also actively try and recruit students to mentor who may have a minority stake in computing!

Here is a list of students I have mentored, apologies to those who I have mentored and have not updated this page:

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Teaching Assistant Mentoring

I have served as a mentor for graduate teaching assistants in the CSE599 course at UC San Diego several times. The course is required for first-time teaching assistants. During the course, groups of 5-6 students are paired with mentors who meet with the students weekly and discuss tips, techniques, and etiquette for serving as a teaching assistant.

Conference Reviewing