Founded in 1999, CSWN is a student led organization at Purdue University dedicated to helping women in the Computer Science (CS) field.
President
Year: 2018, Senior
Major: Computer Science
The basic premise of Computer Science that advocates 'making things simple' resonates immensely with Eehita, and she gets easily enthused by anything that has an association with the field of Computer Science. She loves math and believes her passion for problem-solving has helped develop her interest in coding. Eehita is a member of the Boilercode Planning Committee, an organization that conducts a day-long hackathon for middle and high school students and she is also a mentor for MAGIC, an organization that is aimed towards teaching high school girls Computer Science concepts.
Vice President
Year: 2020, Junior
Major: Computer Science
Gargi is a Junior in Computer Science with a minor in Management. In high school, she became an officer of Women in STEM to encourage women to pursue these fields of study. She is currently a mentor in MAGIC (Mentors for Aspiring Girls in Computer Science) and is the Vice-President of Hindu Yuva. She had founded her nonprofit organization, Global Bookathon, for collecting and donating books to underprivileged children in Native American reservations and within the slums of India. Gargi is really passionate about Natural Language Processing and chatbots. When Gargi is not coding, she does Taekwondo, runs, and hikes. Gargi is also passionate about Conceptual Design and has an art portfolio of her work. She hopes that girls will become more involved in the CS community and realize their potential in this exciting field of study.
Corporate Liaison
Year: 2020, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Pooja is a Computer Science major who is new to the world of coding. She really hopes to be involved with the computer science network as much as possible so she can reach out to other enthusiastic students. She is passionate about the business world and hopes to minor in management and follow through by taking up her undergrad in MBA.
Corporate Liaison
Year: 2020, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
She is from the capital of India, Delhi. She loves street food and Bollywood films. Her favorite programming language is Java. Her plan for the future is to integrate machine learning into her own fleet of food trucks.
Corporate Liaison
Year: Sophomore, 2021
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Business Econ
I am a sophomore in computer science and minoring in business economics. I am a mentor for Women in Science Program(WISP) and member of Reach out for Computer Science(ROCS). Apart from computer science I like to go scuba diving, travel, and eat spicy food.
Treasurer
Year: Junior
Major: Finance
I hope to pursue a career in Financial Technology or Supply Chain Management. In addition to CSWN, I have been a part of LaunchPad, XTERN Bootcamp, and am a multi-sport intramural athlete.
Webmaster
Year: 2021, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Minors: Creative Writing
Lauren is a computer science student who strives to promote representation in the field and foster passion for technology in women. Along with her involvement in CSWN, Lauren is secretary of USB, a board that helps provide computer science with extra resources and help. In her free times, Lauren enjoys writing and music; you can often find her lost somewhere on campus.
Puzzle Day Director
Year: 2021, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Minors: Mathematics, Psychology
Alisha is a sophomore in Computer Science. Along with her involvement in CSWN, she is a mentor for the Women in Science Program (WISP). and the Reach out for Computer Science (ROCS) outreach program. Alisha is very passionate about Computer Science and loves puzzles and problem solving. Apart from CS, she enjoys music and the outdoors. Alisha has a keen interest in teaching and hopes to inspire young girls to enter the field of technology.
Puzzle Tester Lead
Year: Sophomore, 2021
Majors: Computer Science
Rhea is a sophomore in Computer Science. She is a teaching assistant for CS180, and a mentor for Reach Out For Computer Science [ROCS] and Mentoring Aspiring Girls In Computing [MAGIC]. Along with being an officer for CSWN, she is part of the executive board of Minimake - a day event for middle school and high school students where they spend the entire day building CS related projects with the help of mentors. Apart from CS, Rhea loves to paint, draw, play board games and binge watch shows in her free time.
Marketing Specialist
Year: Senior
Majors: Computer Science
Minors: Psychology and Economics
Shreya Shankar is pursuing a track in Machine Learning, and hopes to earn a job after graduation so that she can find out a more niche field that interests her, so that she can pursue her masters. Apart from Computer Science, Shreya is passionate about classical music and cooking.
President
Year: 2021
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Statistics
Sasha is passionate about supporting women in technology! She is a mentor for Women in Science Programs (WISP) and Mentors for Aspring Girls in Computin (MAGIC); both organizations aim to inspire girls to pursue and continue their educations in STEM fields. Sasha's ultimate goal is to play a significant role in the movement to achieving gender equality in the tech industry. Aside from Computer Science related actives, Sasha is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and loves arts and crafts and DIY projects. Eventually, she hopes to pursue a track in Machine Intelligence to combine her interests in computer science and statistics!
Puzzle Maker Lead
Year: 2021, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Rujula is a sophomore majoring in computer science, and is serving as the puzzle maker lead for the CSWN this year. She has been coding since freshman year of high school, and was saddened by how few females there were in her computer science classes. She hopes that by taking part in organizations like these it will help encourage more females to join STEM related fields. On campus Rujula is involved with Purdue Solutions a technical consulting club and Boiler Bhangra an Indian dance team. In her free time she enjoys Keeping Up With Kardashians and playing with her new puppy. Rujula is excited for another great year with CSWN and can't wait to meet all the new members.
Puzzle Master
Year: 2021, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science and Applied Mathematics
Goal is to be in the security track; Involved in Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, TedXPurdueU and PUDM
Founding Member
The woman who started it all, Barbara Clark founded the CSWN we know today. By doing so, she has brought hundreds of women together under the bond of computer science. Barb dedicated her time at Purdue making sure that CSWN was alive and thriving, and she remained the Faculty Advisor for CSWN until she retired in 2014.
Faculty Advisor
Sonia Fahmy is the faculty advisor for CSWN. Sonia started off her role as Faculty Advisor with Barbara Clark in fall 2013 and took over as the sole advisor in October of 2015 once Barb retired. Sonia is a professor in the CS department at Purdue University.
Alumnus
Bridgette graduated from Purdue in May 2016 and is currently working as a Program Manager at Microsoft.
Alumnus
Andrea Lynn Evensen (née Carollo) (B.S. Comp. Sci. 2001) graduated from Purdue with Distinction after having received numerous scholarships and being, inter alia, the Vice President of Mortar Board and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, she attended the John Marshall Law School (J.D. 2004) and was, inter alia, a published member of Law Review, a twice published Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Morrissey Scholars, and an Associate Justice for Moot Court. She graduated magna cum laude. Ms. Evensen is an associate with Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., and is a registered patent attorney. She was named a 2009 Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers. Her intellectual property law practice focuses on litigation disputes, including those involving trade secrets, patents, software-related matters, and contracts. With a background in computer science, her prosecution docket focuses not only on patent prosecution in the computer arts, but also comprises patent prosecution and opinion writing in the mechanical arts, medical arts, and business methods. Her practice also includes copyright and trademark issues. Ms. Evensen is married to Michael Evensen (B.S. M.E.T. 2001), and together they have a wonderful son named Gregory and a dog named Cinder Scrumps. They reside in Elgin, Illinois.
Alumnus
Valerie Anne Fenwick (née Bubb) is a Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems with over a decade of experience in computer security. Valerie is currently working on getting the Solaris Cryptographic Framework, of which she was a designer and major contributor, certified by US Government standards (FIPS-140). She is the lead for the Open Solaris Change Request Team, responsible for making decisions as to what code changes are incorporated into the Operating System and Networking consolidation, and one of the sponsors for the Open Solaris project. She is a leader in redefining the software bugtracking strategy and processes used across Sun today. Previously Valerie was the technical lead for the release of Solaris 10 1/06 and was responsible for the NAT implementation as well as other network security features of the SunScreen firewall. Valerie has a B.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University. In her spare time, she enjoys performing at community theaters, riding her bike, and skiing.
Alumnus
Erika Shehan Poole is a PhD candidate in human-centered computing at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on how groups collaborate to use, maintain, and make sense of computing technologies; areas of study have included home technology maintenance practices, public understandings of emerging technologies, workplace adoption of collaboration software, and collaborative gaming technologies for improving health and wellness. Erika holds a BS degree in computer science from Purdue University and an MS in computer science from Georgia Tech. She is a member of IEEE, ACM, SIGCHI, and the ACM US Public Policy Committee. She has been awarded a Georgia Tech Presidential Fellowship, an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a US Department of Homeland Security Fellowship, and the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. In 2006-2007, she was a pre-doctoral fellow in the Sam Nunn International Security Program. In her spare time, Erika is a group fitness instructor and personal trainer at the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center, and an active member of Toastmasters International.
Alumnus
Janice Zdankus is Vice President of Infrastructure Software and Blades Services in the Enterprise Business Group and Technology Services division at Hewlett-Packard. She is responsible for profitable revenue growth and customer satisfaction of worldwide software support services, a high-growth segment of the HP Services portfolio. She is also responsible for customer experience and quality for the company's Enterprise Infrastructure Software and Blades products. Previously, Zdankus led Worldwide Warranty Planning and Strategy as a Senior Director for the Enterprise Storage and Server Group at HP. Prior to that, she was Senior Research and Development Director leading the diagnostics and system event management engineering laboratory for Business Critical Servers Division. Since first joining HP in 1985 as a software design engineer, Zdankus has held several other senior leadership positions in marketing, customer support and business planning. Zdankus earned Bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Industrial Management from Purdue University. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University in California.
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Puzzle Day is an all day event, where participants spend the day solving fun, challenging puzzles. Winners received cool prizes like Xbox, 3D Doodler, and Rubik's Cubes. Everyone got pizza and free t-shirts!
CSWN members took a break from studying and did some relaxing yoga with friends.
A panel of proffessionals from various tech companies came and talked about women in technology. Panelists shared their experiences working at tech companies, and gave advice for leveling the playing field.
New CS students attended the 2016 Fall Callout to learn more about CSWN. The night started off with an icebreaker, and ended with Insomnia cookies.
CSWN members join Salesforce employees for dinner and pottery making.
If you are a Computer Science related company and would like to sponsor CSWN, please contact us at cswn@cs.purdue.edu.
The USB is a group made up of a maximum of twelve undergraduates in the Department of Computer Science who are determined to make Purdue a better place to study and obtain a degree.
Purdue Hackers is a community of students devoted to the idea that Purdue needs to embrace the kind of "hacker culture" that's found in places like Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Austin. Their mission is to bring that culture here by hosting events where hackers can meet and learn from one another.
ACM at Purdue is an organization for connecting students, faculty and companies for the betterment of the computing community. As a representative of one the world's most influential computing organizations, they provide academic resources, forums for the spreading of ideas, and communities for technological discovery and growth.
WISP is composed of four components: Residential Program, Tutoring Program, Undergraduate Mentoring Program, Graduate Mentoring Program. These four components work together to form a continuous environment that fosters success for students in the College of Science at Purdue University from freshman year through Ph.D.
Systers is a forum for all women involved in the technical aspects of computing. The community has over 6,000 members from at least 60 countries around the world.
A global institute that supports women in technology through many different venues such as the Systers organization and the Grace Hopper Conference.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is the World's Largest Gathering of Women Technologists. It is produced by the Anita Borg Institute and presented in partnership with ACM.
Purdue's resource for interviews, resume reviews, and help with your job search during school and after graduation.
Location to learn about and apply for scholarships for Purdue Computer Science students.
Has information for all the current events happening for the Purdue CS Department, such as job openings, club meetings and callouts, and company recruitment days.
