pooja chandrashekar

Founder and CEO

Pooja founded ProjectCSGIRLS in 2013 during her sophomore year of high school. An ardent advocate for encouraging girls in STEM, she has spoken on the underrepresentation of women in technology and has been recognized by organizations including the National Center for Women and Information Technology and the Clinton Foundation. Pooja also co-founded the Action and Civic Tech Scholars Program to teach civic technology to underrepresented high school students in Dorchester, MA. She serves on the board of She Rocks the World. She is currently a MD/MBA student at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business Schoo. Pooja graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Biomedical Engineering. For more information, see www.poojachandrashekar.com.

patsy mangas

Member of the Board of Directors

Patsy has always believed in the strength of women. While working in television, she produced a documentary on the history of women’s right to vote. Inspired by these strong, resilient women, Patsy set out to counter the message that television and social media sends to girls – that they are not smart enough, not thin enough and not pretty enough. She began by holding focus groups among teenage girls to find out what was really going on in their lives. Determined to empower girls and introduce them to strong, resilient women, Patsy created The Virginia Girls’ Summit. The Virginia Girls’ Summit quickly sold out two years in a row and their teenage ambassadors, who create each summit, asked for more than just a one day event. She now leads She Rocks The World (SRTW), an online platform for teenage girls to share their voices throughout the U.S. and the world.

anavi nayak

Director of Programs

Anavi is a senior at Westwood High School in Austin. Her interest in computer science sparked in middle school when her team was a finalist in the ProjectCSGIRLS national competition. As an advocate for women in technology, she is the Vice President of CodeGirls, a school club dedicated to promoting equality in technology and is part of the Aspirations in Computing community in the National Center for Women & Information Technology. She also volunteers at ConnectED, a program teaching elementary school kids to code. After learning Java, she participated on her high school's Computer Science UIL team and has won the Texas SkillsUSA Team Web Design competition. She hopes to continue encouraging diversity in computer science throughout her career.

sofiya lysenko

Director of Marketing and Communications

Sofiya is a rising freshman at Harvard University. Inspired by women bioengineers at the 2015 ProjectCSGIRLS competition (app to assist children with autism), she used machine learning algorithms with a homemade gel electrophoresis to predict the next mutation of the Zika virus (2016 ProjectCSGIRLS competition,4th place). She now focuses on DNA nanorobot designs and educating and inspiring other girls. Most recently, "Intelligent nanorobotic systems for neurodegenerative disease treatment" was recognized (Google Science Fair, 1st PA, 1 of 44 regional winners, 2019;Regeneron STS Scholar, 1 of 300, 2020). She has designed and run several workshop series(“You Can Code: Just For Girls” series,Fall 2017,"Intro to Python", Machine Learning Studio, Microsoft Malvern) and established her senior high school's first Society of Women Engineers club as well as BioHackPhilly and BioEnGene, two community labs in Philadelphia and her high school, respectively. She has been assisting in professional scientific research, and aspires to follow in the footsteps of her mentors and lead a research group one day.

shreeya arora

Director of Partnerships

Shreeya is a junior at duPont Manual High School. She is a hard worker who is passionate about helping others through technology. Her passion for CS grew at the ProjectCSGIRLS National Gala in 2016. Her project, Tracking Our Heroes, is currently on display at the US Capitol Building and will be there for one year. She has her own graphic design company and holds summer camps where girls are able to harness the power of design thinking, learn about women working in technology, and more. Shreeya’s love for CS expanded even more during the summer of 2018 when she spent three weeks studying artificial intelligence at Stanford University!

anushya shankar

Director of Curriculum Development

Anushya is a junior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in New Jersey. She was first exposed to programming when she participated in First Lego League. She then transitioned to higher-level languages such as Java, C, and Python. She is very passionate about bridging the gap in representation in STEM. For her Girl Scout Silver Award, she ran FLL and programming workshops for Girl Scouts in her service unit over three years, helping form 9+ Girl Scout-only robotics teams. For her Girl Scout Gold Award, she is running workshops for girls ages 9 - 14, having already motivated over 800 girls across the country. She also participated as a national finalist in ProjectCSGIRLS for three years, receiving honorable mention in her last year. In her second year on the team, she wishes to use her experiences with ProjectCSGIRLS to create more opportunities for elementary and middle school girls in STEM.

Karina Halevy

Karina Halevy is a sophomore at Harvard studying Applied Mathematics with a focus in Computer Science and a minor in linguistics. She is interested in computational linguistics, tech ethics, and education (equity, advocacy, and development) and hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of computation, language, and policy. She became interested in pursuing computational linguistics after attending Stanford AI4ALL and joining the National Center for Women and Information Technology’s Aspirations in Computing community. Karina is the founder of LingHacks, an international nonprofit that has hosted hundreds of students for computational linguistics hackathons, workshops, and clubs. On campus, she co-leads the Harvard Undergraduate Machine Intelligence Community, does natural language processing research, and dabbles in data science. In her spare time, she loves to dance, play piano, solve Rubik’s cubes, and learn languages. Karina is thrilled to be continuing her CS education and outreach through ProjectCSGIRLS!

Nandita Narayanan 

Nandita is a rising junior at Reservoir High School in Maryland hoping to pursue a career in the Biomedical technology field. She first became interested in computer science and technology when she was 9 while participating in a FIRST robotics team and the Girls Who Code Program, which has led her into learning languages such as Python, Java, JavaScript, and HTML/CSS. Locally, she started an all-girls cybersecurity club at her high school. She is also competing in her school’s MESA club to design an infant heart monitor using a wearable device. Additionally, she leads an all-girls robotics team at Johns Hopkins APL. Lastly, she enjoys designing dashboards displaying announcements for the SSVT Temple in Maryland.

Anoushka Shrivastava

Anoushka Shrivastava is a senior at Mission San Jose High School. She avidly pursues computer science in many forms, from creating her own augmented reality Instagram filters to coding Java programs modeling her dream library. In addition to earning the title of 2016 ProjectCSGirls finalist, she founded the ProjectCSGirls Fremont chapter in her junior year. When she's not geeking out over CS, she can be found mentoring students in her school’s DECA chapter, participating in research, practicing taekwondo, blogging, or hanging out with her pet parakeets.

Saee Bage

Saee Bage is a sophomore at Irvington High School, and has been interested in Computer Science for several years, specifically yearning towards biotechnology and making the world a safer place. She started off by taking part in small Scratch and App Inventor workshops, later leading into her learning more complex languages like Python and Java. Saee enjoys creating applications/devices that can create a positive impact for the public, and has participated in the ProjectCSGIRLS competition her whole 3 years of middle school. Some of her applications aid people with issues regarding conditions such as Anemia, Dementia, and Alzeheimer's. Saee's apart of her school's Girls Who Code club and is fixated on closing the gender gap in the tech industry. She has hosted a couple workshops for elementary school girls in her area. She hopes to pursue Computer Science in the future!

Samyukta Iyer

Samyukta is a high school sophomore and STEAM-inist from Atlanta, Georgia. She is passionate about community organizing and youth empowerment through STEAM/CS in her organization, IuvaTech. She also leads the Atlanta Mask Project. Apart from academics, Samyukta is actively involved in music performance and education, and in her spare time, enjoys reading fiction/poetry, creative writing, studying Latin, and baking. She is extremely excited to be working on the ProjectCSGirls team.

Krisha Patel

Krisha is a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She is interested in biology and computer science and is passionate about bridging the gender gap in both fields. Krisha’s interest in science stems from her early experiences with organizations like FIRST, HOSA, and Girls Who Code, which have provided her with many opportunities that she is very grateful for. Driven by her gratitude, Krisha strives to give back to her community and is actively involved with social activism efforts for girls’ voices through organizations like ProjectCSGIRLS, SCAN and NCWIT. In the future, Krisha aspires to become a computational neurologist with an emphasis on supporting mental health initiatives in developing countries. In her free time, she also enjoys dancing, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family!

Destney Johnson

Destney Johnson is an impressive, first year freshman.Her major is CIS/Cybersecurity. Not only did Destney graduate with honors, she also finished with over 40 college credits via dual enrollment. She participated in leadership organizations such as Chick-Fil-A Leadership Club,Black Student Union, Student Government, Wheeler Volleyball, and more. She was also a President of The National Society of High School Scholar chapter. In addition to this, Destney served as a student ambassador for Keep Cobb Beautiful. Recently, Destney graduated from Google HBCU CSSI. Destney was selected as a Tech Tour Recipient from her HBCU, Grambling State University. In addition, Destney became an 2019-2020 Lead Prevent Ambassador for Black Millennials for Flint in order to help the Lead Prevention Program mission to “lead through political advocacy, activism, and organizing”.

Ashini Modi

Ashini is a junior at Caddo Parish Magnet High School. She is an avid amateur astronomer and has presented her astronomical research at several conferences around the nation. Her most recent work is accepted for publication in the Universe Journal. Her deep love for astronomy led to her interest in computer science, a big part of astrophysical research. Outside of gazing at the night skies and coding, Ashini loves mentoring other students and helping them recognize their potential. She has founded an organization called Students to Scientists in which she conducts science experiments with less-fortunate kids from the community. She has also founded multiple libraries in homeless shelters around her city. Through these efforts she has noticed the major gender gap in scientific or technical fields. She is extremely excited to be a member of the Project CS Girls Team and spread her passion for coding to other young women!

Raaga Pulya

Raaga is a freshman at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Massachusetts. She became interested in programming in 5th grade in a ProjectCsGIRLS workshop in Boston, MA. There she was inspired by other young women in STEM to learn more about coding. She programmed Lawyer's Diary through Android Studio. It is an app which helps lawyers and attorneys to keep track of their cases. She was encouraged to submit this for the ProjectCsGIRLS competition in 2018, where she placed as a semifinalist. She has also learned HTML, CSS, and Python. She is using Python, specifically machine learning techniques in her current research projects.

Ashita Birla

Ashita Birla is a sophomore at McNair Academic High School in New Jersey. Passionate about changing the world through computer and biomedical sciences, she has been a national finalist in 2019 ProjectCSGirls, winner of Dr. Schumann Young Scientist Award, nominee of National Broadcom MASTERS, and silver medalist in 2020 Hudson County Science Fair. An avid coder, Ashita has led her school's Robotics team for two years, winning the district level and advancing to the regional robotics competition. Attending the Science Engineering Summer Camp at NJIT with a full scholarship, she gained a deep insight into how women are changing the STEM field and received the Chemical Engineering Award. She has always promoted girls in STEM and looks to start clubs in her school and community, and is excited to contribute her perspective to the ProjectCSGIRLS Program team. Outside of academics, Ashita enjoys playing and teaching violin, running track, reading, and writing poetry.

Annika Viswesh

Annika is a rising junior at Palo Alto High School, California. She is very passionate about STEM and equity in education. She is the founder and president of the Jobs of Tomorrow(JoT) program. Her mission is to encourage underserved students to consider careers in STEM through her program. She also developed AI curriculum and teach people with disabilities to code at Abilities United. She loves learning and spreading her knowledge to everyone. She has taught programming to kids of all ages at several libraries in her community and at school. In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing chamber music with her friends.

Mary Cotter

Mary is a Junior at Allendale Columbia School. She is a member of the CodeX Coding and Math Teams. She has worked with Java, Python, JavaScript, and Ruby. Mary feels very passionately about the importance of ensuring that young girls are supported in learning to code and feeling confident to approach other STEM activities. To this end, she helps lead Allendale’s chapter of “Girls Who Code” to teach coding principles to elementary school girls and demonstrates projects at local Maker Faires. She is a ProjectCSGirls alumna and 2018 National Fourth Place Winner. She has continued to develop yearly projects throughout High School, including Is My Cat Overweight? which used neural networks to distinguish between healthy and overweight cats and Watching Our Water (2.0) which uses LandSat Satellite data and local water sample data to predict Secchi Disk Depth. Beyond academics, Mary enjoys running (especially XC and Steeplechase), lettering and drawing.

Manika Aggarwal

Manika is a sophomore at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. Her tech journey started in fifth grade when she took part in the First Lego League program and discovered her passion for technology. Since then, she has taken many computer sciences and coding classes in her middle school and high school years, including Gateway to Technology and AP Computer Science Principles. She was a finalist in the ProjectCSGirls competition in her sixth grade and received an honorable mention award. In eighth grade, she was again a finalist in the ProjectCSGirls competition and attended the gala. The experiences she had there helped facilitate her entrance into STEM. She is very excited to be a part of the ProjectCSGirls team this year and really hopes to encourage more girls to learn about the interesting world of STEM.

Ashlyn Roice

Ashlyn Roice is an incoming junior at Mountain House High School. She is passionate about the intersection of health science and technology, and her science fair projects have won numerous awards at the regional, state, and national level. She was awarded the ProjectCSGirls National Honorable Mention award in 2018. She’s also been a part of her school’s Science Olympiad since fourth grade, and has won various regional awards for events. She is also a lover of poetry, and her writing has been published by Defiant Magazine and has been recognized by the Scholastic National Art and Writing Awards. Through ProjectCSGirls, she hopes to spread her passion for computer science and technology and help to close the gender gap in STEM.

Deepti AGGArwal

Deepti Aggarwal is a sophomore at Troy High School. She first became interested in science while on her school's Science Olympiad team. She participated in the ProjectCSGirls Competition in the 6th and 7th grade, and has been coding ever since. Her greatest accomplishments to date have been qualifying for the AIME math competition, and learning how to fold a fitted sheet. She loves math and science, and hopes to major in a STEM field in college. But until then, she will be busy playing piano, watching Hindi rom-coms, and watching hours and hours of YouTube. She is very excited to be a part of the ProjectCSGirls team and help girls everywhere learn to code!

Nicole Rosenfeld

Nicole is a senior at Weston High School. She began learning how to code in the fourth grade and has always enjoyed the STEM subjects. She is interested in studying computer science and knows python, HTML, and CSS. She runs a coding club for girls at Weston Middle School. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was able to broaden her club to reach more girls. On Saturdays, Nicole volunteers at Science Club For Girls where she teaches 6 through 8 year olds about STEM. Nicole is also a National Center for Women in Technology Massachusetts Affiliate Winner. She hopes to be able to inspire more girls to be interested in STEM.

Olivia Chen

Olivia is currently a junior at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. She began her computer science venture through learning Python in a tiny textbook during the summer of seventh grade. Her curiosity eventually led her to take AP computer science classes in high school for two years. While learning programming through Java in school, she motivated herself to utilize this skill in FRC robotics, and she worked on an app through HTML and JavaScript that constructed a form to collect data efficiently when scouting the matches during the competitions. As well as being active in the world of computer science, she is a competitor for her policy debate team; she has been a finalist in business events such as DECA and FBLA, and her passion continues to lie within dancing on her drill team.

Nitya Jakka

Nitya is a freshman at Metea Valley High School in the suburbs of Chicago. Her passion for computer science started when she began experimenting with Python. Since then, she has participated in Girls Who Code clubs and various other computer science programs and competitions. After learning more about the shortage of women in the technology department, Nitya has been passionate about closing the gender gap. She also enjoys graphic design which she learns more about in her free time.

Anjali Vadlamudi

Anjali Vadlamudi is a senior at American Heritage School Boca/Delray. She’s been doing math and science for as long as she remembers. She is the regional coordinator for the Florida Student Association of Mathematics(FLSAM) has competed in various competitions including FAMAT, AMC, MathCounts, AIME, and ARML. She volunteers by teaching math online and wants to continue spreading her love in stem with PROJECTCSGIRLS.

Greg Elman

Greg is currently an Account Director with Infinera Corporation, maker of DWDM Fiber optic transmission equipment. He has a BSEE from Old Dominion University and has held numerous Engineering positions at Broadwing Communications, Corvis Corporation and NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center. Greg has had several mentoring roles including education outreach for NASA, math tutoring and coaching girls soccer. He has also been a part of several start-up ventures that were focused on areas related to technology (WiFi Point of Sale), student athlete search engines and financial services. Greg is also the father of three daughters, 2 of which are in math and science-related fields, and is an avid amateur triathlete.
 

Ruthe Farmer

Ruthe Farmer has focused her efforts on diversity and inclusion in tech and engineering since 2001 and is currently Chief Evangelist for the CSforAll Consortium. She most recently served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy where she led implementation of President Obama’s call to action for Computer Science for All (CSforAll) American students, and advised on national tech inclusion policy. While at the White House, Ms. Farmer launched the Summit on Computer Science for All.

Prior to joining the White House, Ms. Farmer served as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT) and Director of the NCWIT K-12 Alliance. She launched and scaled the immensely successful Aspirations in Computing talent development initiative for young women in computing, growing the program to a national footprint in just three years. Additional significant contributions include: the TECHNOLOchicas campaign for Latinas, the expansion of the NCWIT Student Seed Fund, and leadership of the NCWIT K-12 Alliance.

Ms. Farmer served as the 2012 Chair of Computer Science Education Week, was named a White House Champion of Change for Technology Inclusion in 2013, and received the Anita Borg Institute Award for Social Impact in 2014. She is a profile public voice for equity and inclusion in technology and has been an invited speaker at the UN, the European Parliament, the White House, the Washington Post, Oxford University, the Federal Reserve, universities and colleges nationwide and many others. Ms. Farmer has been a guest contributor for Techcrunch and the Shriver Report, and has been featured in Forbes, The Financial Times, TechRepublic and EdScoop. She holds a BA in Communications and German from Lewis & Clark College, and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the University of Oxford Said Business School. She is passionate about integrating innovative business strategies into social change efforts.

Kelly Hoey

Kelly is an angel investor and includes co-founding a startup accelerator plus an interim CMO role with a startup as part of her journey of reinvention as a speaker and writer. In addition to her portfolio of angel investments (Levo League, Hullabalu, Smigin, CloudPeeps, SQL Vision, flowthings.io, Jekudo), she is a LP in Laconia Capital Group. Kelly continues to mentor startups through her involvement in selected accelerator programs and is an advisor to several startup initiatives (JuiceLabs, BUILDUP, NZTE, CTA). In addition to these professional pursuits, Kelly is the Chief Tech Ambassador for the YWCA of NYC’s Girls Geek Club. “Invest in the change you want to see in the world” is Kelly’s motto.