Wonder Woman Extravaganza: Find Out How This Lady Helps Twitter

Computer Science if a field that eludes most people but Computer Scientist Carolyn Watters has managed to master and dedicate her life to the subject. Find out more about this amazing role model.

How did you get interested in computer science?

I always liked to solve problems. When I started computer science it was very brand new and math problem oriented and I thought that was cool so I decided I wanted to get into it.

Do you still enjoy your profession?

I love it. I like to solve puzzles and I like things that are a little fussy. I enjoy getting things just right. And I like to make a difference. There is always a puzzle out there to solve! It’s a perfect combination of all the things I like to do. It’s all out there just for our imaginations!

 Did you have much encouragement from your parents when you were growing up?

Umm..I wouldn’t say so. I got the usual objections, it was hard. I didn’t think it was hard though. And it was all men but at that time the class was made up of about 25% women. So it’s gone downhill. There are less women in computer sciences now actually.  But at that time, we were mostly encouraged by teachers to go into nursing.

 Any experiences where you felt out of place?

Yes, I did feel out of place at times. The first time I did any computing was my first day in my master’s program. The guys could all stay and work through the night but I would have to go home when it got late so I could catch the last bus, there was just no option for me to stay all night. That was a bit of an obstacle. And I think what separated me was the notion that to be really cool, you had to be obsessed with algorithms and that’s not why I enjoyed it.

 The culture around being obsessed with detail and spending all night fixing something, or even the idea of spending all night programing, made ME want to fall asleep. I liked it because it was about people and about how we solved problems with people. While most of the guys thought, ‘well that really isn’t computing, is it?’ I’ve seen a poster with a couple young women in scrubs, with a slogan saying ‘Go into medicine, you can really change the world’. And I thought why don’t we have that ad for computer science? Who writes this stuff?

 What are you working on right now?

Most of my work has been on tech stuff and electronic use. Right now, I’m working on a lot of social media. How do we get and use twitter feeds for things like news? It’s really interesting. It has that combination of people behaviour and problem solving.  We analyze what people do and I work on how that can affect streams of twitter. I look at the billions of tweets going by at a time and I think how can I quickly, in real time,  get only financial stories or how can I find everything going on about Trump.

 If we get it right, people will not have to go through the sea of twitter to find what they are looking for. Nor do we have to rely on those sources that agree with us. Because when we follow, we auto bias and get only people who are aligned with what we think. With this system, you would get all the information regarding what you were interested in.

 What advice would you give young girls who were thinking about careers in computers or were interested in the sciences?

Focus on what it is you want to do to change the world. And then don’t just take the same old paths even if you’re in math or computer science. When you’re doing your algorithms, you make it about what you care about. Let’s say you care about politics, you go out and make a website about helping people vote. Just go out and do it!

 What do you do for fun?

I love going out in my little boat. I love kayaking. I love hiking. I just like being outside.

Wonder Woman Extravaganza: A Chemical Engineer

 had the pleasure of interviewing Sophia He, a chemical engineering teacher at Dalhousie University. During the interview Sophia expressed a need to encourage more women in the field of engineering. Of all the STEM options, engineering is the field with the fewest women making up only fourteen percent of the employees that have careers in engineering.  

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I don’t really remember what I wanted to be as a little girl but I do know in high school I wanted to be a chemist. Chemistry was so mysterious and it was everywhere. When it came time for college I did not know specifically what I wanted to do, I just loved chemistry. Here in Canada, during high school there are resources to help you choose the right path, there are guidance counsellors to help you in the process of choosing the right career. However, back in China there is not much guidance to help you understand what each profession involves."

 What was the toughest part of university?

 Well I chose chemical engineering thinking it was chemistry and in my first year I was unprepared for the level of math in engineering. I had never taken any calculus before and my first class was a disaster. After almost failing my calculus midterm, I studied all semester and I finally scored a 93% in my final. From then on I fell in love with engineering.”

 What do you love most about engineering?

 There are immediate benefits. Engineering is focused on application and that is the beauty of it. When I started working at the university I was immediately approached by a farmer who had a bio-diesel setup in his farm. I could improve and maximize his bio-diesel production after a few changes to his processing system. Now, I am working on converting old cooking oil into bio diesel. We will need alternative sources of energy in the future and if we can use waste, it will be an inexpensive alternative to coal or gas. There are also many engineering related jobs, there is a wide spectrum of fields that require an engineer like project management or energy consumption.

 What would you say to young girls who wanted to be engineers in the future?

I would tell young girls to be especially adventurous. Boys are raised to be brave and to push the limits, but girls are often taught to be a little gentler and demur. Girls are different in terms of the way they assess design, how they evaluate customer needs and how they solve problems. Girls should be just as brave and I think they would make fantastic engineers. In fact, I think women would make better engineers. They are very creative and good at solving different problems. I am currently a minority in my field and I would love to see more women in chemical engineering.

 This was a great interview as it shows how engineering can make a difference to peoples lives. In the future, we will need to have alternate sources of energy because we will run out of fossil fuels soon enough. These Wonder Women posts are here to create awareness about what Scientists and engineers do and it gives the chance for us to show case some of the brilliant women in the STEM fields.

 Comment, Like & Share! Do You Know Someone In The STEM fields?! 

Understanding the profession of these role models in important when trying to stimulate creativity and learning for the sciences.