CNS Helps CSE Student Attend Grace Hopper with Travel Grant

Mounika Padala, a master’s student and graduate student researcher in UC San Diego’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), has been named a Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) Scholar. Awarded by the Center for Networked Systems (CNS), the honor included the 2023 Grace Hopper Travel Grant, funded by CSE’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.

The Grace Hopper Celebration is globally recognized as the premier gathering of women and non-binary technologists and aims to create a more inclusive, equitable future within the tech industry.

This year the four-day career expo was held in Orlando, Florida and attracted roughly 30,000 participants, including Padala. Conference sessions highlighted pioneering ideas in tech and underscored the profound impact of women in the field. Attendees could also join the queue to meet one-on-one with representatives from Apple, Amazon, Google, and other event sponsors.

“I made some connections, which are invaluable to my professional journey,” said Padala, who also gained this insight: “After speaking with several recruiters, I believe that both data analysis and security are fields that will offer numerous opportunities in the future.”

The Grace Hopper Celebration takes its name from a pioneering computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral, Grace Brewster Hopper. She was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages and completed a computer compiler (later known as a program linker) in 1952.

Since 2011, the CNS Grace Hopper Travel Grant has supported the efforts of 14 women and non-binary graduate students in computing at UC San Diego by paying full travel and conference expenses. CNS is a university-industry alliance engaged in cutting-edge research to address emerging real-world problems in modern computing and data processing infrastructure.

Written By Kimberley Clementi