Computer science senior bridges the STEM gap

Swati Rampalli draws underrepresented kids to science and technology through Code the Gap

November 30, 2021

Imposter syndrome is real. Just ask Swati Rampalli, a senior majoring in computer science. Rampalli came to the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering (CSE) eager to learn more about the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, in her first year, she started to question her career path.

“Many people in the major had known what they wanted to do for a while. I felt like I didn’t have much knowledge and experience in the field coming into it,” said Rampalli.

That feeling of self-doubt despite taking statistics and computer science classes in high school led Rampalli to co-ound the student group Code the Gap, to expose local K-12 youth from historically underrepresented groups to the possibilities of computer science.

“We wanted to come up with a way that we could reach out to people so that they can have an equal opportunity to get exposure to tech and also see themselves as leaders by seeing women volunteers and guest speakers who are people of color,” said Rampalli, a recipient of the E. Reuben and Gladys Flora Grant Scholarship, CSE Merit Scholarship, and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering’s Maximillian Lando Scholarship.

According to the American Association of University Women, engineering and computer science remain heavily male dominated. Nationally, only 21 percent of engineering majors and 19 percent of computer science majors are women.

CSE has been doing its part to boost those numbers. Over the past decade, the college has implemented a number of programs, including the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and the WISE House, sponsored by Medtronic. This fall, CSE welcomed 452 women in its first-year class (about 31.1 percent).

Code the Gap worked with Community School of Excellence, a PreK-10 Hmong language and culture school in St. Paul, during the 2020 school year. Ten student volunteers from the University of Minnesota taught the programming language Python in twice-weekly online sessions.

This year, Rampalli hopes to bring kids to the Twin Cities campus for coding classes and a chance to hear from faculty and people in industry about what led them to STEM careers.

Rampalli says co-leading Code the Gap—with another computer science major, Sree Pemma—taught her about empathy, compassion, and understanding. Those skills came in handy this past summer when she took part in a National Science Foundation research project at George Mason University. Rampalli was part of a team that created an app to help people with speech disabilities communicate their needs in everyday situations such as grocery shopping or dealing with an emergency.

Excerpted from Legacy magazine; read the full story by Kim Kiser on the UMF website.

For more on Code the Gap, including co-president Sree Pemma, read their story in CSE News.

If you’d like to support students in the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering, visit our CSE Giving website.