My Journey in Academia
I had this all typed out to go under my “About” section, but it was just too much.
Here is a brief synopsis of my academic journey to where I am now, as a 4th year PhD student. I have made many mistakes but learned many lessons.
In high school, I had an amazing female computer science teacher, Ms. Melinda Johns, who took me under her wing and provided many lessons on computing but also told me to keep going in the field and that she believed in me. Her mentorship and my mother and late father’s persistence to keep me in computer science led me to many opportunities, including computing summer camps at Indiana University and lobbying at the Indiana Statehouse for personal computing devices for students in my high school. These formative experiences led me to study computer information technology at Purdue University.
When I joined Purdue, I realized that my experience with programming in high school and strong mentors was not the same for everyone, and especially not for other women and gender non-conforming students in my major. With this realization, I became more interested in studying topics related to computing, persistence, and computing education. I participated in undergraduate research and found that I was most fulfilled conducting research, working in a team, and pushing myself to learn new topics. I graduated a year early from Purdue, in May 2020, to continue my education at Purdue with a Master’s degree. I chose a Master’s degree because I, truly, wasn’t sure I was prepared to be a strong PhD applicant or mature enough in my research to start a PhD program. I am grateful I did a MS degree before a PhD since I learned more research skills in a familiar place during an unprecedented Covid lockdown. After my 1st semester of my MS, I began talking with my advisor about PhD programs. He encouraged me to look at many schools and find a mentor I enjoyed working with. Again, with the support of my family, we traveled across the country, meeting potential faculty mentors and visiting universities and potential new places to live. When August 2021 came around, I applied to 6 schools. I had accepted the fact that my more applied CIT background may not make me a strong CS PhD candidate but I (successfully?) conveyed my eagerness to learn more theoretical topics and to engage with both applied and theoretical concepts within a CS PhD program. I knew if I was accepted, it would be challenging but I was up for it. I was accepted to most schools I applied to and accepted a generous offer from NC State to continue my education. I graduated in May 2022 with my MS in Computer Information Technology. You’re welcome to read my thesis, linked under Academic Experience on my About page.
Shortly after my graduation from Purdue, I unexpectedly lost my father. This was genuinely the worst day of my life. I don’t share this as a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” moment or a “If I can, you can to”, but to be honest about the academic experience. Considering this, I struggled immensely the first year of my PhD. I was unreliable, not 100% committed, and at many times just too unwell to continue. I stuck it through because I knew I could do it, even if it took a bit longer or a different path than others. After my 1st year, I switched research labs to focus more on CS Education and I am grateful that I did. Now in my 4th year of my PhD, I have made significant progress towards my dissertation and have started to learn more about myself and who I want to become as a researcher.
There are many people who have made my academic experience worthwhile, including my current advisor, Dr. Veronica Catete, Dr. Isabella White, my previous MS advisor, Dr. J. Eric Dietz, and the many other PhD students within the CSC program at NC State. Their expertise, mentorship, and guidance has been unmatched. I am who I am today because of them.
This is a brief synopsis of the past 10-12 years of my academic career. How lovely! My CV has much more detailed information as to what I’ve been up to, typically updated biweekly. I intend to post a page for future PhD students… that will probably be a Spring Break or Summer Break task. There is much to say, and very little time during this semester.