Diversity

As you may have been able to tell through my research, a lot of what I focus on is broadening participation in computing (particularly for U.S. Latines). A misconception that people may have is that I would only want to focus on U.S. Latines, but I truly want ALL students to succeed regardless of their background! I just find it difficult to see the computing classroom in a vaccuum. It’s hard to have equality in the way that CS is taught when there is no equality in how CS education is currently administed in the United States. For example, at my institution where I’m getting my Ph.D., it is incredibly difficult (close to impossible) to certainly switch into the computer science major while at school. Therefore, you probably had to get accepted into the CS program when you applied to the school in the first place, which probably means that you may have had some experience with what computer science is before even applying to the program at all. And there are structural and social barriers for people of color to go into computing courses in K-12. I’m happy to talk more about this if you’re interested as well! Below are some ways that I’ve been working on (or recognized for) striving towards a more diverse computer science field.

UCSD CSE Graduate Award: Excellence in Contributions to Diversity (2024)

Recognizing meaningful efforts to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity within the department and broader STEM community. This award honors sustained contributions such as mentorship, outreach, advocacy, or leadership that foster a more inclusive and supportive environment in computer science and engineering.

Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellow (Spring 2024 - Spring 2026)

This program is absolutely incredible, and I highly (HIGHLY) suggest that any of you reading this consider joining a cohort of fellows. It’s a 2-year 2-phases fellowship (no funding provided or required). In the first phase, there are many readings and discussions with people nationwide that delve into social topics (e.g., identity, intersecctionality, bias) and how they relate to our acadmeic environment. In the second phase (where I currently am in), you create a project based off what we learned in Phase 1. The idea is that these projects are not just one-off implementations and we pat ourselves on the back and say “we fixed it all”, rather it’s supposed to be a sustainable project where your home institution could actively keep for many years after you propose it. More information on the program is found here: 3C website

I am completing the program in Cohort 5! We are in the second phase of the fellowship, and we’re tinkering with a couple of different ideas.

UCSD CSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (2023-2024)

The CSE DEI Community is a group of dedicated faculty, students and staff working on promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion efforts across the department. I’ve helped with lots of different things, including creating and hosting a weekly drop-in help hour for undergrads to come in and ask grad students anything at all! I also helped coordinate transportation/lodging for students from my hometown to come to TritonHacks (hackathon at UCSD) to participate! Even though it’s around a 2 hour drive from the university, it was such an important thing for me to bring people from my hometown (a primarily underserved community) to see what hackathons look like (and one of the teams we sent won an award too!!).