Omer Ahmed

Omer Ahmed is a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholar and a junior Engineering major with a concentration in Computer Science from Chantilly, Virginia. He recently had the opportunity to present his research at the VA-NC Alliance Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Virginia (UVA). At this conference, Omer was able to bond with fellow LSAMP scholars from Virginia Tech and other institutions. He was able to meet students from a diverse set of schools, including Old Dominion and George Mason University. In addition to networking, he had the chance to tour some research labs at UVA and talk to faculty and students about their research. Omer presented his research successfully and won first place for best presentation. Omer is also involved in several extracurricular activities, including the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), where he is the PCI Committee Liaison. He is also a Black Male Excellence Network (BMEN) and Help Me Help You scholar.

Omer's research summary

AI Tools vs. Debugging Tools: Exploring User Perceptions on Bug Locating Performance

Computer programs sometimes run into silent errors called "bugs" when utilized, which are undetectable by the computer. As a result, it's the programmer's responsibility to locate and fix these bugs. This process is known as debugging. There are debugging tools out there that are designed to make the process of locating these bugs easier for the programmer. However, recent innovations in AI (artificial intelligence) have allowed this process to become automated through tools like ChatGPT. The research goal was to see how effective AI is in debugging by comparing it to traditional debugging methods (using a debugging tool) and exploring what programmers think about these methodologies. Their perceptions provided a deeper insight into the benefits and drawbacks of both debugging methods.