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Adjunct Instructor and Two Students Attend SheHacks at Boston University

February 6, 2018

Patricia Wilthew, Amber Hamlet, and adjunct instructor Richard Rauscher attended SheHacks at Boston University January 26-28. SheHacks is an event dedicated to femme empowerment in a male-dominated tech industry. During a 36-hour hackathon, women and femme non-binary individuals participate in workshops, learn new languages and programming.

Amber Hamlet is a senior studying computer science, who learned of the event through fellow student, Patricia Wilthew. She learned how to work with programs such as Google Cloud Platform. "This event helped me work on my team building skills and how to work with a team under pressure to complete a product," said Hamlet. It helped to connect her to other women in the tech industry. This year Amber Hamlet will be attending USF's Hack-A-Bull where she can share her knowledge with other students.

Patricia Wilthew is also a senior computer science major. She is a member of an organization called Rewriting the Code. This membership afforded her the opportunity to read an online post about the event from the director of SheHacks. Participating in this event allowed Wilthew to learn new skills and exchange valuable information with other students. "I like learning new ways to do things and I love sharing what I know with other people. Of course, I really enjoy coding too! So, this is a great mix of things to do during a weekend," said Wilthew. According to Wilthew, she learned how to use tools such as the Natural Language, Google Search APIs and the App Engine, which are part of Google Cloud Platform. Wilthew recommends that any software developer or project manager should participate in an event like this.

Richard Rauscher is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering who participated in the event as a mentor. According to Rauscher, "In the last twenty years, there's been a steep decline in the number of women studying and enjoying computer science. I believe that events like this are helpful in reversing that trend." He enjoys teaching computer science and was enthralled to be a mentor. Rauscher described the experience as rewarding, as he enjoyed working with "bright women from all around the country." SheHacks provided a healthy workspace for two students to implement their knowledge of computer science and proactively apply this knowledge for a team project.