👋 Hi

I'm Will Barkoff, a Computer Science undergraduate at Cornell University, minoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

What I've written recently

Let's talk about Ranked Choice voting

New York City is about to have its first ever ranked choice elections. This post is going to be a bit different compared to the ones I’ve previously written.

Code as a thing of beauty

Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive.1

When we think of code, we tend to think of it for utility rather than beauty. I think we’re wrong in this regard, and beautiful code is possible, and should be sought after. Writing beautiful code is something that we should strive for, not something that should be thought of as a side effect.

  1. Definition from Wikipedia. Is Wikipedia a thing of beauty as well? 

HackDalton: Running a CTF

I decided to run a small CTF1 for high school students. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. I called it HackDalton, after my school. HackDalton was my senior initiative (for non-Daltonians, that is a fancy way of saying a big project that seniors do at the end of the year), and I was lucky enough to be advised by the wonderful Charlie Stewert.

  1. “Capture the flag”: A type of programming competition. Essentially, each team is given a set of problems that they have to “break in to.” These can be websites, programs, etc, and they each have a “flag” (an alphanumeric string) hidden inside. 

What I've been working on

Cornell Rocketry Team

Team Lead

2nd Place, 2023 Spaceport America Cup

1st Place, 10k SRAD Division, 2023 Spaceport America Cup

Collaborated with Cornell Rocketry Team

Leadership C++

On the Cornell Rocketry Team, I lead a co-team of 58 engineers to design and build a high powered rocket to compete in the Spaceport America Cup, the worlds largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition. Previously, I was the software lead, running a team of 7 software engineers developing low-level C and C++ for the rocket.

Cornell Hillel

President

Collaborated with Cornell Hillel Student Executive Board

Leadership

As president of Cornell Hillel, I serve on the Cornell Hillel board of trustees and Student Executive Board. On the student executive board, we organize large scale events for Cornell’s ~3000 Jewish students.

Samsung Electronics America

Software Engineering Intern

TypeScript React C#

At Samsung, I worked on the New Concept Divison’s Client Engineering team. I developed software for 2022 model year Samsung Smart TVs with C# and React.js. I worked on the front end related to Game Hub feature on 2022 model Smart TVs.

MyHomeworkSpace

Collaborated with MyHomeworkSpace Team

Preact React React Native Go

An online planner that lets you easily stay on top of your homework and tests. It synchronizes with the cloud, so you can access it anywhere you have an Internet connection.

Donorfide

Collaborated with MyHomeworkSpace Team

Go React TypeScript

A donation management software designed to be lightweight and powerful for small foundations.

Pulse Wearables

Collaborated with Richa Krishna and Anna Pertl

Node.js TypeScript React Python C#

A wearable patch designed for people with heart conditions to help them monitor their physical activity.

Charlie Chatbot (MSKCC)

Memorial Sloan Kettering DHI Summer Innovation Fellowship

Collaborated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Node.js TypeScript React Python C#

A chatbot to improve communication between departments at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Honor With Code

Memorial Sloan Kettering DHI Summer Innovation Fellowship

Collaborated with Wounded Warrior Project

Collaborated with Pluralsight (formerly Code School)

Collaborated with Whiskey Bravo

A program to donate Code School scholarships to injured veterans to help provide career training.

MyTiger

Collaborated with Dalton School Student Government Technology Committee

Node.js React Native

A chatbot availible through text and Google Assistant to answer questions about your school day.