Preetha Chatterjee, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the College of Computing & Informatics (CCI). She joined Drexel CCI’s faculty in fall 2021, and currently teaches students in the Introduction to Software Engineering and Development course. Her research interests are primarily in software engineering, with an emphasis on improving software engineers’ tools and environments through data mining, text analysis and machine learning. She holds both an MS and PhD in Computer Science from University of Delaware. Learn more about Professor Chatterjee below:
Why did you decide to join Drexel?
I really appreciate Drexel University’s commitment to research with real-world applications, which is an extremely important factor towards producing impactful research in the field of software engineering. Skills related to software engineering and software analytics are constantly evolving, and in high demand in both academia as well as industry. I believe my expertise would provide the students at Drexel University with the coveted skills for their careers post-graduation.
What are you passionate about?
I am interested in teaching and performing research in Software Engineering (SE), catered towards solving impactful problems and tackling real-world challenges through data-driven solutions. My research interest is specifically in software analytics, towards building or improving software engineers’ tools that enhance developer productivity. I build tools based on evidence from quantitative and qualitative empirical studies and adapting state-of-the-art techniques from the fields of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. I support open science and have contributed to various openly available SE repositories for reuse by the industry/research community.
Beyond research and teaching, I am also passionate about fostering diversity, and supporting women and other underrepresented groups in science and technology, especially in the field of Computer Science (CS).
What are your goals for the 2021-22 academic year?
I am planning to start and build my research lab at Drexel CCI. I am actively looking for motivated undergraduate/graduate/PhD students to work on software analytics. If anyone is interested in my research area and would like to work on a project, please reach out to me via email.
What is something about you that might surprise students?
After finishing my undergrad, I embarked on a journey to work in the industry as a software engineer. After working for six years, I decided to quit my full-time job and go to grad school!
What's your favorite thing about Philadelphia?
Amazing restaurants! Philadelphia is also a hub of culture and history!