Avinash Kumar’s favorite spot on campus? Depends on which year of the seven he spent here you’re talking about.
“The initial few years were spent a lot in the quietness of Grainger Library studying for classes, doing homework in the Illini Union open area near the cafe and meeting with class students for projects in their buildings like Talbot, Industrial Engineering and CSL,” says the Intel Labs research scientist (Ph.D. ’15, electrical and computer engineering).
“The middle part of my years, once I was done with all requirements of graduate coursework, were spent in Beckman Institute, where my advisor’s lab was located. I spent a number of hours in the atrium or outside Beckman thinking on my research and ideas.
“The last couple of years, I enjoyed a lot being around the Quad, taking strolls from Beckman to all the areas near Quad. Evo, Jimmy John’s and the Blind Pig are the three places I really miss in terms of food and drinks.
“Out of this, if I have to pick one which I best remember and was most emotional about when I left Champaign, it would be the Beckman Institute. Such a wonderful, calm place beaming with amazing students and faculty all the time during the day and so quiet during night.
"A perfect place to think and reflect.”
