My Story
My engineering story began when my family and I traveled to the Liberty Science Center during the summer of 7th grade. I remember sitting in the IMAX Theater Dome Planetarium, looking up and being surrounded by a sky of a million stars. Yet, this was only the beginning; the show began, and I was taken on a tour through the universe, through galaxies, and through untouched, undiscovered universes. When it ended, I became fascinated with what I did not know. My curiosity expanded, I had a sense of urgency in wanting to know how the world worked, and how everyday things operated. Everything around me was a reflection of continuous innovations and man-made wonders. I understood that they all started out with just an idea, a spark.
To transform some of my own thoughts into action, I joined the local robotics club, and used a variety of different materials such as Lego’s to construct and code multi-functional robots. In addition, for 14 days, to improve the accuracy of medical diagnosis imaging, I co-led a team of researchers in using artificial intelligence to diagnose pneumonia in chest x-rays. In the process, I was introduced to several coding languages such as Javascript and Python. Learning these languages allowed me to communicate with humans and robots alike, opening my eyes to a new perspective on a world I had previously never known about. I would love to know that I played a part in guiding young girls to uncover this world too.
My Project
My project intends to introduce elementary school girls with special needs to the fundamentals of engineering through hands-on activities. The course will consist of a 5 day summer session and bi-weekly regular year session in Title I schoolrooms, allowing girls to foster important life skills of collaboration and problem solving.