Aspiring computer science graduate has passion for teaching underrepresented minorities how to code

ANKENY, IA, UNITED STATES, December 16, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “When I think about Liliann Ulysse I’m reminded of computer scientist and college president Maria Klawe who said ‘Coding is today’s language of creativity’ and ‘All our children deserve a chance to become creators instead of consumers of computer science,’” said Cheryl O’Donoghue, CEO at Aspire2STEAM.org. “Liliann loves to code, especially for machine learning applications, and she has quite the talent for it.”

Liliann is Aspire2STEAM’s 21st scholarship recipient in 2021—a stretch goal the nonprofit set out to achieve earlier in the year. Additionally, Liliann is Aspire2STEAM’s first sponsored LEGACY Scholarship.

The LEGACY scholarship is a multiple-year award for young women and girls pursuing STEAM-education who could benefit from a helping hand. “The idea for offering the LEGACY scholarship was kickstarted when Jim Anthony, who sponsored Liliann’s scholarship, asked if he could sponsor her again every academic year until she graduates,” said Cheryl. “Clearly, we thought that was a marvelous idea and something that is needed given the low number of females receiving scholarships compared to males.”

“I think establishing something that can be counted on for future periods will go a long way for the recipient,” said Jim Anthony, a senior tech executive and cybersecurity leader with special expertise in cloud, IaaS, security, hosting, colocation, and online services. “I know it takes a lot to pay for a college education and my donation is just a small part of the scholarships and grants Liliann will need...but I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Liliann is a first-generation Haitian-American finishing up her first semester at Howard University in Washington, DC. She became interested in computer science after completing BridgeUP: STEM, a program designed to teach girls how to code using Python. After her experience with BridgeUp:STEM, she went on to complete an oceanography research internship at the American Museum of Natural History and then went on to become a research student at the Spoken Language Processing Group at Columbia University, where she worked on using machine learning to improve emotion detection in text-to-speech systems. Her passion for coding led her to build an application to detect misinformation in news articles about COVID-19 and machine learning to predict stock prices.

In addition to being proficient in Python 3.7 and HTML/CSS, Liliann has a long list of achievements. She presented at Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange, was a two-time presenter at NY Tech Alliance, earned the Bronze Medal at Al Kalfus Long Island Mathematics Fair, placed 3rd at Elmont Memorial Mathematics Fair, and received First Division Honors at Kathy Belton Science Fair at Molloy College. Liliann is also an AP Scholar with Distinction and has received numerous awards for academic achievement. She speaks and reads French and speaks Haitian Creole.

Liliann’s community service has included tutoring at school in science and social studies and work as a teaching assistant and mentor at BridgeUp: STEM. “I hope to graduate from college with a degree in computer science and either enter a job in technology or go on to graduate school,” said Liliann. “I will also continue to volunteer for organizations focused on teaching underrepresented minorities how to code, with the dream of one day founding my own company which teaches black kids how to code.”

ABOUT…

Aspire2STEAM.org is a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has earned Guidestar’s Gold Seal for integrity, transparency, and accountability. We provide scholarships and mentoring to young women and girls who are working hard—aspiring—to achieve careers that require education in science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math…and they could really use a hand up over the incredible barriers of student debt and rising education costs, and the real, ever-present opportunity barriers that keep them out of most male-dominated industries. These young women are doing their part, let’s help them by doing ours.

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Cheryl Joy ODonoghue
Aspire2STEAM
+1 630-253-8861
cheryl@Aspire2STEAM.org
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Liliann Ulysses, LEGACY Scholarship Recipient