Telling our stories – Elif Sen

Each year we meet incredible women at womENcourage™ celebrations. We ask womENcourage participants to tell their stories in blog posts. We continue March, 2024 with Elif Sen, a third-year computer science student at Bilkent University, Turkey and ACM-W student chapter chair .

“While I had participated in hackathons before, this one was unique (…). Together, we developed a project aimed at mitigating bias in AI models, aligning our efforts with sustainable development goals.”

 


My name is Elif Şen. I am a third-year computer science student at Bilkent University, Turkey and ACM-W student chapter chair .

I first met with ACM in the first year of my college via the student branch. In the second year of my studies, I was lucky enough to meet Reyyan Ayfer, our lovely, always supporting supervisor in ACM Bilkent and founder of ACM-W Europe, who also advised me to attend womENcourage.

I knew womENcourage was to celebrate women in computing but did not foresee how lovely it is to be with international women in computing, hearing their stories and sharing experiences.

During my high school, I was in math olympiads, which was a totally male-dominated area of study. Proceeding with computer science to my career, I always found myself in male-dominated areas and having some challenges. Spending time with STEM women worldwide made me realize I wasn’t the only one facing difficulties and felt more belonging than what I could have expected.

The conference started with the hackathon at the first day. While I had participated in hackathons before, this one was unique. I had the opportunity to collaborate with four individuals from diverse backgrounds, all of whom were strangers at the beginning. Together, we developed a project aimed at mitigating bias in AI models, aligning our efforts with sustainable development goals.

The second day was dedicated to workshops, and I had the privilege of volunteering and assisting the organizing team. The knowledge I gained from the three workshops I attended was invaluable, not only from a technical perspective but also from the experiences shared by the esteemed guest speakers and attendees.

The last day was with guest speakers, poster sessions, career fair and the word finding game within it. The tech talks were as inspiring as always. It was a wonderful experience to explore the career fair with the friends I had made throughout the conference, sharing our aspirations and engaging in the word-hunting activity.

I wholeheartedly recommend this inspiring conference to anyone who wishes to celebrate women in computing ?



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