The STEMinist Chronicles

Maria Sooklaris (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a dual major in Data Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now a Data Scientist at Zuora, inc.
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“I was always more drawn to my STEM subjects in high school, but it wasn't until college that I found two subjects that I truly fell in love with. I majored in Cognitive Science and Data Science and really enjoyed how different they were, but also that I was able to apply my Data Science knowledge to work on research in the Cognitive Science field. I learned that data management and analytics is something that transcends traditional STEM fields. I ultimately chose to pursue Data Science as my career, but in the future hope to find something that incorporates both majors in a meaningful way.”
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Rucha Kelkar (she/her/hers) has recently completed her undergraduate degree with a dual major in Data Science and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now a Technical Solutions Engineer at Epic Systems.
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“My journey has been an attempt to explore and find my niche, STEM or not. In college, I studied both cognitive and data science as a matter of indecision, and found a unique intersection between them to point me along my chosen career path. Data is everywhere but data management is often lacking in the areas that need it the most, including healthcare. With Epic, I work with people intending to streamline and ultimately better the typical medical experience from a technological standpoint. I am thrilled to participate in the pursuit of a meaningful goal such as this.”
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Jeske Ymke Dioquino (she/her/hers) is a second-year graduate student, studying physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
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“I’m mixed Filipinx and Dutch, and everyone says my name wrong (it’s YES-kuh). It’s a sort of fun, unique part of every interaction I’ve had throughout my career in physics: a summer abroad working at CERN, an undergraduate honors thesis at UC Davis, and now grad school at Berkeley. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to work with kind people who value my work, but I rarely see my identities represented among physicists. While disappointing, it inspires me to keep working, and be someone who I’d have looked up to as an aspiring physicist and bisexual womxn of color.”
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