Class of 2023: With the spirit of a grandpa she never ever realized, Maisha Mahmood excels in the ‘guilty pleasure’ of math and laptop or computer science – VCU Information
Maisha Mahmood never ever satisfied her grandfather, but he nevertheless had a profound affect on her lifetime.
“He handed away even prior to I was born, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about him,” she claimed. “My grandpa — Dada Bhai — was a math whiz. He could address 10th-quality math issues when he was only in sixth quality. He was the initially engineer in our household and was liked by absolutely everyone for remaining sort and practical.
“Even however I never acquired to satisfy him, the tales about my grandpa inspired me a good deal. I normally preferred to be a intelligent, form and hardworking particular person like him.”
And Mahmood was thrilled when her spouse and children advised her she was very good at math, just like her grandfather. “I know people today phone me unusual for this, but math is sort of like my responsible pleasure,” she mentioned.
The comparison with her grandfather ignited her passion to go after math or engineering – and at Virginia Commonwealth University, she has performed both equally. Mahmood graduates this semester with a bachelor’s diploma in laptop or computer science with a concentration in software program engineering, and a insignificant in arithmetic.
In 2021, the intercontinental student moved to Virginia from Dhaka, Bangladesh, with her parents, who relocated to a new nation so she could go after her desire.
“I constantly dreamed of coming to the U.S. for college or university, believing it would offer much more options for me,” Mahmood mentioned. “I specially concentrated on colleges in Virginia due to the fact I had kin dwelling here. That is when I found out VCU. I still don’t forget looking for campus pics and sharing them with my mom. We both immediately fell in like with it.”
A cousin who experienced attended VCU spoke hugely of the numerous campus and the help of professors. It was in particular captivating that the Section of Personal computer Science was element of the Faculty of Engineering, when the self-discipline is normally grouped with the humanities and sciences at other universities.
“I am a lot more than satisfied to say that VCU has been every little thing I experienced imagined it to be,” Mahmood said. “The instant I established foot on campus, I fell in appreciate with its charm and environment.”
She observed that since her to start with semester, Caroline Budwell, Ph.D., undergraduate director of the Department of Computer Science, has been a source of assistance.
“To me, she is a lot more than just a professor – she is a guardian who has continuously determined me to give my most effective, regardless of the issues,” Mahmood explained.
Among her numerous fantastic professors, she also claimed Ahmet Sonmez, Ph.D., affiliate professor of pc science, “is a different remarkable determine I’m lucky to have satisfied in the course of my time listed here. Operating closely with him confirmed me how committed he is to his work, and he’s normally been inspiring.”
At VCU, Mahmood established two college student companies – the World wide web Enhancement Club (WebRams) as very well as the Facts Science Club – and tutored at VCU’s Campus Understanding Heart. She also was an e-board officer for the Culture of Women Engineers for two consecutive tutorial yrs and was president of the CS Student Advisory Board for the 2022-23 12 months. And she labored at the VCU Pure Language Processing Lab under Bridget McInnes, Ph.D., affiliate professor of personal computer science, and participated in the Dean’s Undergraduate Exploration Initiative in 2022.
Mahmood considers herself “someone who thinks you must constantly acquire benefit of the alternatives that existence throws at you.” And as her mom, impressed by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, would convey to her, “Wherever you see ash, sift by it, and maybe you could possibly discover a cherished gem inside of it!”
Mahmood served a Financial institution of The united states internship in the course of her VCU reports, and it has led to a complete-time position as a program engineer, which she starts off soon following graduation.
“My time at VCU has supplied me extra than I could have requested for, and I wouldn’t modify a point,” she claimed. “VCU supplied me with the higher education knowledge I often dreamed of as a teen, and I’m definitely grateful to every person who manufactured it probable. I aspire to be a individual capable of offering back again to the VCU group and supplying my mothers and fathers the joy they genuinely are worthy of.”
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