The Faculty Development Center’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program recognized Drs. Yoonsuk Choi and Kanika Sood as the 2026 WAC Student Writing Mentorship Award recipients.
Dr. Yoonsuk Choi is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at California State University, Fullerton, where he has been a faculty member since 2014. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, with a specialization in Computer Engineering, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to his doctoral studies, he worked as a research engineer in nanotechnology and semiconductor-related fields at several institutions, including LIG Nex1 and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. His current research interests include artificial intelligence and deep learning for multimodal data fusion in medical applications, hyperspectral analysis and remote sensing, and quantum information science. In addition to teaching a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, Dr. Choi actively mentors students through research projects, conference presentations, and research competitions, and previously served as faculty advisor to Orbital Labs, a student organization focused on microgravity research.
Dr. Kanika Sood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at CSUF, where she also serves as an AI Writing & Digital Literacy Fellow and a PIPE-LINE Faculty Fellow. She received a doctoral and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Oregon in 2019 and 2014, respectively. Her teaching and research expertise spans Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Databases. Beyond the classroom, Dr. Sood is a dedicated mentor, serving as the faculty advisor for the Data Science Machine Learning (DSML) Club. Over the past five years, she has remained committed to evolving her pedagogical approach, specifically adapting her teaching to meet the shifting writing and literacy norms of the modern classroom. Dr. Sood has successfully guided numerous students in publishing and presenting their research at various educational venues.
