2020 Summer Internships ITWomen Scholar Updates

Your support for ITWomen scholarships truly makes difference in giving young women an opportunity to freely pursue their dreams for a future in tech.

I’m excited to share summer updates from some of our current scholarship recipients: Jade, Ashley, Vanessa, Annie, Myah, Sara, Maria and Aranique. Their internships or summer employment include ITWomen, as well as Amazon, E&J Gallo Winery, Google, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Energy Technology, and Apple.  

Jade Minkoff, Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California
“I’m interning with ITWomen as the Lead Camp Counselor at their Virtual Camps this summer. My favorite part of the job is seeing the creativity of the campers. Every session I am blown away by the originality and intelligence of all the girls. It’s extremely rewarding for me to use my technical skills and experience to be a mentor for younger girls still exploring career paths.”

Ashley Tirado Pujols, Aeronautical Engineering, Embry-Riddle
“As a Counselor at ITWomen’s Virtual Coding Camps this summer I am able to encourage young girls to pursue their goals, and to never let their gender determine what they are capable of, all the while reinforcing ITWomen’s values.The ITWomen Charitable Foundation has helped me realize what potential I have in the STEM field and to never give up on your dreams and values.”

Vanessa Perez-Robles, Engineering, Dartmouth
“This summer I have an internship with Amazon and will be working as a Software Development Engineer Intern specifically working with Amazon Prime. Very excited with what the summer will bring me and this experience. . . . The last school terms have definitely been difficult as my school went remote but we made it through and just waiting to hear back how upcoming terms will take place.” 

Annie Ooi, Engineering, Carnegie Mellon
“This summer, I am doing remote research for National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) through the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program. My project involves developing a computational model to predict the formation of mineral deposits in offshore oil systems. It’s been interesting to learn about the Office of Fossil Energy’s research and improve my computational skills.”

Myah Cobb, Computer Science, University of Central Florida
” . . . I hope everyone is doing well during these difficult times. In recent news, I started my new role as an Apple iOS Advisor! I am currently still in training, next week will be my final week in training. I am doing well. I am working on building a stronger foundation in certain programming languages, such as python to learn more on handling and interesting data.”  

Sara Kvaska, Computer Science, Harvard
“I’m currently interning remotely with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I’m building a website for a Drone Reservation System that they’re implementing for their engineers! It’s so cool!”

Maria Zapata, Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida  
“For the past three years, IT Women has been a bridge that has allowed me to make my dreams into reality. The scholarship has been a source of support that has helped me focus mainly on my studies. Not on how I’m going to pay for them. Once I graduate I plan to pay it back and donate so that other generations of girls get to have the same opportunity I’ve been given. Thank you IT Women for everything, and may you continue to prosper.”

Aranique Brown, Information Systems and Operation Management, University of Florida
I am interning remotely as a Data Scientist / Business Systems Analyst with E&J Gallo Winery, the largest manufacturer and distributor of wine in the US, I’m going into my third week and it’s been incredible so far! This fall I will officially be in the Combined Degree program at UF, which allows me to simultaneously pursue my Bachelors and Masters degree in Information Systems and Operations Management with a focus in Data Science.

Mentoring 

We are grateful for all the support from our Partners and Friends in the IT Community. If you are interested in paying it forward through mentoring a scholarship recipient during her crucial college years, and you are a female technologist with at least 5 years experience, please apply to ITWomen Board member Margaret Brisbane.