Serious Fun
Ohio Wesleyan Junior Researches 'Artificial Intelligence for Modern Board Games'
Name: Lily Rekow '26
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
High School: Bishop Watterson High School
Majors: Computer Science and English Literature
OWU Connection Experience: Participating in Ohio Wesleyan's annual Summer Science Research Program (SSRP)
Rekow spent 10 weeks researching "Artificial Intelligence for Modern Board Games." This fall, she presented her findings during the annual Patricia Belt Conrades Summer Science Research Symposium.
In her research abstract, Rekow explains: "We designed a digital version of the board game Pastiche. All the physical elements like the tile, painting, and color cards are represented graphically. Then, we wrote an agent program to make moves in this digital game, so it can play against a human player. The program runs through possible options and takes the move that will result in the most amount of points."
The Right Move
"I thought this would best expand what I was learning in the classroom. The topic of 'Artificial Intelligence for Modern Board Games' also interested me because I enjoy playing games, and I thought applying my computer science field to that area would be fun."
This research had me building a bigger program than anything I'd done before, and while I had help with the design of the program, it's all stuff I wrote.
Big Opportunities
"I learned more about writing big programs. This research had me building a bigger program than anything I'd done before, and while I had help with the design of the program, it's all stuff I wrote."
My Favorite Moment
"My favorite part was seeing the whole program come together at the end. Having it all work and do what I hoped it would make all the work leading up to it feel worth it."
My Mentor
"I worked with Sean McCulloch, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, as my faculty mentor. He helped me in designing the program, especially coming up with the evaluation function that the agent program ran on. He also gave me a lot of help and feedback on my [symposium] presentation and poster."
Outside The Classroom
"I work at the Sagan Academic Resource Center as a math tutor and at the Registrar's Office. I participate in the fall drama every year as part of the crew. I'm also part of OWU's Anime Club and TCG (Trading Card Game) Club."
Why OWU?
"I wanted to attend a smaller school so that I could more easily connect with other students, faculty, and campus life in general."
Major Plans
"I knew I wanted to be a Computer Science major when I came to OWU, but I added my English major upon becoming a junior."