Student Spotlight: Diego Temkin

By Jane Halpern

December 2, 2025 | Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Diego Temkin is double majoring in both Computer Science and Engineering, and Urban Planning; his SuperUROP project, “Reimagining Urban Bus Operations”, combines his interest by exploring AI-driven approaches for optimizing bus routes and public transit service design. Photo courtesy of the subject.

This interview is part of a series of short interviews from the Department of EECS, called Student Spotlights. Each Spotlight features a student answering their choice of questions about themselves and life at MIT. 

Today’s interviewee, senior Diego Temkin, is double majoring in 6-3, Computer Science and Engineering, and 11, Urban Planning. The McAllen, TX native is involved with MIT’s Dormitory Council (DormCon), helps to maintain Hydrant (formerly Firehose)/CourseRoad, and is both a member of the Student Information Processing Board (MIT’s oldest computing club) and a SuperUROP scholar. 

What’s your favorite key on a standard computer keyboard, and why?

The “1” key! During COVID, I ended up starting a typewriter collection and trying to fix them up, and I always thought it was interesting how they didn’t have a 1 key. People were just expected to use the lowercase “l”, which presumably makes anyone who cares about ASCII very upset.

Tell me about a teacher from your past who had an influence on the person you’ve become.

Back in middle school, everyone had to take a technology class that taught things like typing skills, MS Word and Excel, and some other things. I was a bit of a nerd and didn’t have too many friends interested in the sort of things I was, but the teacher of that technology class, Mrs. Camarena, would let me stay for a bit after school and encouraged me to explore more of my interests. She helped me become more confident in wanting to go into computer science, and now here I am. 😊

What’s your favorite trivia factoid or random bit of arcane knowledge?

Every floor in Building 13 is painted as a different MBTA line. I don’t know why and can’t really find anything about it online, but once you notice it you can’t unsee it!

Do you have any pets? Tell us about them—and if you have pictures, please share!

I do! His name is Skateboard, and he is the most quintessentially orange cat. I got him off reuse@mit.edu during my first year here at MIT (shout out to Patty K), and he’s been with me ever since! He’s currently 4 years (5 on September 29th!) old, and he’s a big fan of goldfish and stepping on my face at 7am. Best decision I’ve ever made. 

Are you a re-reader or a re-watcher—and if so, what are your comfort books, shows, or movies?

Definitely a re-watcher, and definitely Doctor Who. I’ve watched far too much of that show and there are episodes I can recite from memory (looking at you, “The Eleventh Hour”). Anyone I know will tell you that I can go on about that show for hours, and before anyone asks, my favorite Doctor is Matt Smith (sorry to the David Tennant fans, I like him too though!)

Do you have a bucket list? If so, share one or two of the items on it!

I’ve been wanting to take a cross-country Amtrak trip for a while… I think I might try going to the West Coast and some national parks during IAP if I have the time. Now that it’s on here, I definitely have to do it!