Alexander Lau

Alexander Lau is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science and Astronomy and currently serves as logistics director for the on-campus RSO Pulse. After hearing about the ATLAS Internship Program through department emails and newsletters, he joined tostrengthen his programming experience while developing professional soft skills in a real work environment. Currently in his secondsemester as an intern, Alexander works as an ATLAS Intern Leader and VR Programmer for projects including the ATLAS QuadGames and POINT VR. His responsibilities include polishing a VR scavenger hunt of the simulated UIUC Main Quad, improvingaccessibility for new VR users, debugging textures and assets in Unity, addressing import issues, and taking on project managementand mentorship duties for new interns. Through this experience, he has gained technical skills in Unity, C#, Meta Quest Link,PowerPoint, Google Slides, Clipchamp, and VR recording tools, as well as soft skills in time management, communication, problem-solving, persistence, troubleshooting, project management, organization, documentation, and goal-setting.One major lesson he’s taking away from the internship is that setting clear goals is just as important as completing them, and stayingpersistent through programming challenges is key to progress. Looking ahead, Alexander hopes to pursue a career in computerscience with hopes of possibly integrating hardware and VR, which he’s grown passionate about. A fun fact about Alexander is thathe’s an active Beat Saber player and has beaten five levels on the Expert+ difficulty.