Student benefits from special summer program

By Jessie Molloy Correspondent September 4, 2014 6:36PM

Thomas Simmons | Supplied photo

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Updated: September 4, 2014 8:21PM

While most college students put their studies on hold when they get a summer job, Illinois Wesleyan University student Tom Simmons was able to continue his academic pursuits and get paid this summer when he became a part of the Eckley Summer Scholar and Artist Program.

An Evergreen Park native, Simmons, is a computer science major entering his senior year at Wesleyan with a special interest in online cryptography, which is used for securing information on the Internet.

Cryptography is all around us, he said. Every time we secure our communications, use online banking, check our email or buy something from Amazon we are using cryptography.

Originally drawn to computer science in high school by the idea of coding and game design, Simmons became interested in cryptography when he got to college and found books on the subject in the school library.

My sophomore year I found out my professor was doing research on the subject, and I approached him about it, Simmons said. He told me about his work, and I started to help him as a research assistant.

While he also works as a teaching assistant in the computer science program during the school year, his research with assistant math professor Andrew Shallue has continued independently of Simmons class work. It was Shallue who recommended that Simmons apply for the Eckley scholarship and who served as his summer mentor.

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Student benefits from special summer program