Meet Graduate Carol Rios Rocha

Hardworking and determined, Carol Rios Rocha exceled at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and is moving on to even greater things. After graduating in May 2022 with a degree in Computer Science and a concentration in Cybersecurity, Carol is working at the Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute (BHSAI) as a software developer. She joined Nvolve in August 2020 after receiving an email from a UMBC professor and learning about the “impressive career backgrounds of the women who were involved in [the program].” She was also intrigued by the opportunity to have a mentor, although she was unsure what to expect. Pairing with a successful technology professional, Carol was happy to find that they had “similar personalities” and felt her mentor “could help her improve her communication skills and support her while she pursued her degree.” Furthermore, Carol believed that the “most important part of being an Nvolve scholar [was] to participate in the weekly huddles.” Essential topics, including “team building, time management, and leadership skills,” were discussed, and she especially valued the interactions with her peers as she “developed a deep sense of admiration for all of them.” As part of the Nvolve Science & Technology program, Carol worked on a variety of group projects. One was “a national survey to assess how information about vaccine and clinical trials affected people’s willingness to participate in future trials,” which resulted in an article published in the Corpus Journal of Clinical Trails. She also created a “podcast on which she discussed Big Data” and developed “a Tableau Dashboard as part of a data visualization project” on petroleum energy consumption. From these real-life experiences Carol learned about “accountability, respecting deadlines, and persevering when … faced [with] obstacles.” Looking back, she believes Nvolve made her “more comfortable with sharing her ideas and making presentations,” while also supporting her search for technical internships. Carol is “proud to be an Nvolve alumna” and “hope[s] to be a permanent part of this community.”

Carol’s mentor is Andria Mattsen, who is a “UX Manager at Shopify leading the product design of their fulfillment solutions.” Throughout her career, Ms. Mattsen saw a problem within the software development industry. Women were not highly represented on engineering teams, and “the leadership within these companies had even less women and rarely those of any ethnic backgrounds.” This is slowly changing, and Ms. Mattsen wants to be part of “opening doors” for young women, so mentoring with Nvolve was a “no-brainer” after “learning about the mission.” She describes Carol as a person with “incredible passion for what she does” and believes she is “one of the [scholars] that pushed the hardest.” Over two years Ms. Mattsen was very proud to see Carol “grow and expand her limits,” as she gained confidence in public speaking and expanded her list of accomplishments. She saw it as her job to “guide, critique, and push” Carol “to greater potential” and appreciated Nvolve making it easier by “providing topics of the month to facilitate … important conversations.” As Carol graduates from the program, she leaves other young women in STEM with the advice that “being part of a community, building relationships, and excelling at communicating your ideas is fundamental to becoming a successful professional.”