Computer Science: Why More & More Girls Are Choosing Study & Careers in Computer Science With Dr Carolina Scarton From The University of Sheffield, Amy Boyd at Microsoft & Sheffield Undergraduates

In this live interactive event, Dr Carolina Scarton from The University of Sheffield is joined by current Computer Science undergraduates and a truly inspiring graduate, Amy Boyd from Microsoft, to reveal why this study and career pathway is becoming so popular with females. (Please see the speaker profiles below).

The session offers the opportunity for Year 12 & 13 students (and equivalent) to hear invaluable insights into undergraduate courses at Sheffield, the decision to pursue Computer Science, and the subsequent student experience. We will then explore with Amy how studying Computer Science at Sheffield has enabled her to successfully embark upon and get established in a stimulating and successful career.

The session will take the form of a facilitated discussion which, in a relaxed and informal environment, also encourages thoughts and questions from the audience throughout.

With our panel of current undergraduates and our graduate, Amy, we will discuss:

• their decision to do a Computer Science degree and, in retrospect, what they would now say to their younger selves;
• their expectations vs the reality of Computer Science study and work;
• their personal achievements and challenges throughout their journey;
• what our alumni do now and how studying Computer Science prepared them for it;
• their aspirations and plans for the future.

The schedule for the session is:

• 12:45 Session outline and course context.
• 12:55 Undergraduates share their experiences.
• 13:10 Alumni working in the field share their experiences.
• 13:25 Final questions and closing thoughts.

Lecturer Profile (Please Click): Dr Carolina Scarton 

Graduate Profile: Amy Boyd, Senior Cloud Advocate, Microsoft. Amy Boyd is a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft, having obtained a degree in Computer Science at The University of Sheffield and completing a research project in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. Amy has been at Microsoft for 7 years and entered her career via internships and graduate schemes during her degree. Amy is passionate about Data Science and Machine Learning and her roles at Microsoft have allowed her to work with many different technologies, as well as work on projects with customers from across the globe. Her role as a Cloud Advocate is to help software engineers to learn, engage and build with the latest cloud and Microsoft technologies.

Undergraduate Profile: Charlie Turner – 2nd Year Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence student. I’m currently the operations officer for the department society, CompSoc, where I take responsibility for the organisational aspects of the society. I also volunteer with Women in Engineering society, trying to encourage more young people to take an interest in different engineering disciplines. I’m very interested in the medical applications of artificial intelligence and robotics and hope to be able to have a career where I can follow these interests as well as helping people.

Undergraduate Profile: Ruxandra-Maria Mindru – Final Year student of AI and Computer Science, originally from Romania. I’ve just completed a year of Industry working as a Software Engineering Intern for JP Morgan, as well as a summer placement for BlackRock as part of their Aladdin software team. I love well designed user interfaces and I’ve wanted to work for Pixar since reading “Creativity Inc.”. I’m passionate about dancing, languages and travelling (albeit daily walks up the hill in my neighbourhood is as far as I’m getting these days). I hope to live and work around the world, with my eyes set on either Japan or New Zealand at the moment.

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Year 10 to 13 students (and equivalent) studying with a potential interest in studying Computer Science at university.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: There is no preparation required but you might like to consider questions related to studying and careers in Computer Science.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: