Image by Jessica Vu Computer science graduate Jessica Vu '26 has built Hawk Advisor, and AI-powered website that helps UMass Lowell students find elective courses that align with their career goals.
When Jessica Vu ’26 was choosing electives as a computer science student at UMass Lowell, she wasn't just looking for courses that would satisfy degree requirements. She was searching for classes that would help her build the skills that employers want.
That challenge inspired Vu to create Hawk Advisor, an AI-powered website that helps UMass Lowell students discover elective courses aligned with their career goals.
Now, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in computer science and receiving an offer for a full-time software engineering position with AI chipmaker Nvidia, Vu hopes Hawk Advisor can help other students navigate the same decisions she once faced.
“There’s a lot of competition right now in the industry,” Vu says. “So, the earlier students prepare for it, the better it will be for them.”
Vu, an international student from Vietnam, speaks from experience. Strategic course selection helped her build skills that led to internships with Bosch Global Software Technologies and Nvidia, where she worked on the company's autonomous vehicle simulation platform before receiving an offer to join the company full time. She is currently awaiting work authorization that would allow her to accept the position.
The idea for Hawk Advisor grew from Vu's own experience navigating the computer science curriculum. While the major offers degree pathways in cybersecurity, data science and bio-cheminformatics, along with a general option, she found that students interested in specific industry roles such as front-end engineer or quality assurance engineer often have to determine for themselves which electives will best prepare them for those careers.
“If you know what career you want to do, you have to figure out which courses you should take so that you can maximize your chance when you apply for that specific career,” she says.
Hawk Advisor helps answer that question. Currently available for students in computer science, computer engineering and applied mathematics and statistics, the free website allows users to explore potential career paths and view information, including average salary, projected job growth and elective courses, that it identifies as most relevant to those careers. An applied mathematics student interested in biostatistics, for example, may discover public health courses that could strengthen their preparation for the field. The platform can also introduce students to career paths they may not have previously considered.
Vu began developing the concept in early 2025 and spent months planning the project before starting development during her senior year. Within two weeks of its launch, Hawk Advisor had attracted roughly 200 users.
Image by Ed Brennen Jessica Vu '26, one of the flag bearers for the Kennedy College of Sciences at Commencement, hopes that future computer science students can continue to develop Hawk Advisor to gain real-world experience.
Lin says Vu approached the project with an entrepreneurial mindset, focusing on a real problem rather than simply completing a class assignment.
“Jessica focused on solving problems she had experienced firsthand as a UML student,” Lin says. “What impressed me most was her willingness to transform that experience into a practical solution.”
Weis, who has known Vu since she was a first-year student, says it’s been “inspiring” to watch her grow as a student and now head into industry.
“Jessica is proof that with dedication and hard work, you can reach your goals at UML and do extraordinary things,” Weis says.
While Hawk Advisor uses artificial intelligence to help students explore academic and career options, Vu emphasizes that it is meant to complement, not replace, academic advisors.
“I think the role of advisor is irreplaceable,” she says. “It's important that students work with their advisor.”
Looking ahead, Vu sees another purpose for Hawk Advisor beyond helping students choose classes. She hopes the platform can become a real-world development project in which future students gain practical experience building software used by their peers.
“When I was in my sophomore year, I didn't know what project to build,” she says. “Having something that a student can work on and they can benefit from is a way that I want to pay it forward to people that helped me with projects.”
Several students are already helping improve the platform, and Vu hopes to secure funding from the university to expand the team in the future. She says the underlying infrastructure was designed to scale and could eventually support students at other UMass campuses. If there’s demand, she may also create a mobile app version of the platform.
As Vu begins her career, she brings with her a lesson learned through Hawk Advisor and her journey at UMass Lowell: Sometimes the most important step is simply building something.
“If we just have plans, it will always and forever be a plan, and nothing will be real,” she says.