Swapnil Keshari is achieving statewide recognition for his work as a mentor.
The fourth-year student in the Joint Carnegie Mellon-University of Pittsburgh PhD Program in Computational Biology (CPCB) received an Educator Honorable Mention from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). NCWIT is a network of change leaders focused on increasing the participation of women and girls in computing.
The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Awards recognize educators who promote gender equity in computing. Keshari earned distinction for mentoring Anna Delale-O’Connor, a student at Fox Chapel Area High School. Delale-O’Connor participated in the 2023 CompBio Academy summer research experience, working in Assistant Professor Jishnu Das’ lab.
Keshari taught Delale-O’Connor how to code in Python and then progressed to more complex machine-learning methods.
“She is a high school student, so it’s impressive in terms of how much she knows,” Keshari said. “I really feel that if we have more female students who know computing you will soon start to see a couple of years down the line the gap of their footprint in the computational space reducing.”
Keshari said he was inspired to become a mentor because of the positive impact he can have on students’ lives. Mentoring has also given him the opportunity to improve his professional development skills.
“Being a mentor, it teaches you a lot about communication skills and time management,” he said. “You have to make sure that your mentee does not feel overwhelmed by the complexities and break down the problem into small bits.”
By the end of her time in the CompBio Academy, Delale-O’Connor helped the Das lab implement a machine-learning method to analyze transcription factor perturbations in a biological dataset. She also received an Aspirations in Computing High School Award for her computing achievements.
Keshari attended Delale-O’Connor’s final presentation for the CompBio Academy, where she discussed her computational project and answered audience questions.
“She answered all the questions, and that was the moment where I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve done something. I taught someone something new, and she will do great in whatever she is doing ahead,’” Keshari said.
His advice to students from underrepresented groups who are interested in pursuing a career in computation is to not be intimidated.
“Don’t let the world get to you,” he said. “The moment you decide you want this career, everything will unfold, and there will be people to help you understand the basics of computation, biology and presenting.”