Hear why our current female students in Computer Science are getting involved across campus, why they’ve chosen Computer Science, and what they plan to do with their degree.
Hi, my name is Paige Rolling and I am a senior Computer Science student. After my first semester at Iowa State, I knew that Computer Science was for me because I loved the first class. So far, while at Iowa State, I’ve had the opportunity to be a TA, a Peer Mentor, a member of the Student Advisory Council for Computer Science, an intern at Cisco, and a research assistant for Dr. Mohammady, where I worked with differential privacy, a technique to improve the privacy of machine learning models. My biggest advice is to not count yourself out too early. Everyone comes to college with different experiences, and a class that might be easy for other people might not be easy for you. Remember that you’re here to learn and that it should be hard! Give yourself time to learn!
Hi, my name is Hannah Ashley and I am a senior Computer Science student. I took a very unconventional route to choosing Computer Science as my major. My freshman year, my major changed from undecided, to Criminal Justice, to Biology. When the Spring 2020 semester rolled around, I decided to take COM S 207 to fill some elective credits. Although I had no interest in anything computer-related at this time, I kept going to class because it
started to become really interesting to me. Thanks to Gurpur Prabhu, who patiently taught the material in such an understandable way, COM S 207 quickly became my favorite class to attend. Don’t let yourself be defined by the stereotype of what you think Computer Science is! I have witnessed so many intelligent and persevering woman going before me in this field, and I hope my story can be another reminder to any incoming female students that you are fully capable of finding a home in the field of Computer Science!
Hi, my name is Alexis Pachonphai and I am a sophomore Computer Science student. My mom is in IT, and she influenced me to take my first comp sci class in high school. I really enjoyed the problem-solving and mathematical concepts, so I decided to pursue it as a major in college. I chose Iowa State because of its computer science program, knowledgeable faculty, and its beautiful campus. My advice to incoming computer science students is to not be afraid to ask for help with your classes. There are plenty of great resources offered at Iowa State, one of them being the Comp Sci help room.
One of the many ways our department invests in women in science is by sending them to the Grace Hopper Conference each year. The conference gives our students a chance to network with leading women in technology and see the potential their computer science degree can have.
The Grace Hopper Celebration is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. History shows that attending Grace Hopper is a great and motivating experience for our students and helps them complete their computer science degree. If you are interested in supporting this effort, contact csdept@iastate.edu.
Hear from our students on how they benefited from attending the conference:
Grace Hopper was an empowering experience that I could bring back to Iowa State’s campus and help
other women see their full potential.- Madeline Moses
I benefitted from GHC by being able to network with researchers from underrepresented groups. I was
able to learn from them and consider improvements for my own tech-presentations.- Sanchayani Pal
GHC is a great opportunity to meet like-minded women who share a passion for computer science. I
grew my network and learned how to be a female leader in a male-dominated industry.- Hannah Ashley