By Jessica Skropanic
Redding Record Searchlight, Calif.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Breanna Devore-McDonald is on a mission. The recent Notre Dame grad who will enter a computer science doctoral program in the fall, wants to change perceptions about women in computer science.
Redding Record Searchlight, Calif.
At 21, Breanna Devore-McDonald has the next few years planned out.
The Anderson resident just graduated from Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, where she attended on a full scholarship. She’ll enter a doctoral program in the fall.
This summer, she’ll work as an instructor at Girls Who Code, a Bay Area coding camp for high school girls who want to enter computer science and related fields.
The camp’s purpose is to help underrepresented minorities close the gender gap in STEM fields like computer science.
When she’s teaching, Devore-McDonald will be able to relate from personal experience what it’s like to be the only woman in the room.
“I’ve had a lot of mixed experiences,” Devore-McDonald said. “It’s hard to tell that you’re the only woman at Notre Dame. People (there) aren’t as discriminating as other places. I didn’t realize how big of a difference it is between a man and a woman in my field.”
She found out just how big those differences were when she did summer internships while at university.
“I had two internships, both with IBM. My first internship in Dublin, Ireland, went swimmingly. People expected me to do as much and to know as much as my male peers.”
The second one, in San Jose, wasn’t as pleasant.
“It went terribly. I was one of maybe three female interns in 30. Not all of my male peers were bad at all, but there was a group of about five that really didn’t think women were meant to be in computer science — that they weren’t capable enough.”
She didn’t realize this until a male co-worker told her she “shouldn’t go into programming languages because it’s the hardest field of computer science; too hard for a woman.”
“There’s a stereotype that women in computer science go into the softer areas, like human-computer interaction,” Devore-McDonald said. The reasons are assumptions about women liking human interaction more than men do, especially men in computer science.
Being the only woman in tech groups and clubs also meant she was usually the designated secretary, she said.
Devore-McDonald’s mother, Sharon McDonald, said she always assumed her daughter would go into the sciences.
“She was raised with her two brothers, who were very science-oriented. She always knew that she wanted to continue with her education.”
She spoke openly with her daughter about gender bias.
“We kind of discussed, you need to be strong because this is a male field.”
McDonald said her daughter was an easy mark for biased comments.
“She was the youngest (of the interns). She’s 5 feet, 2 inches. She was asked, ‘What did you do to get this? Who do you know?’ We talked about what she could do.”
Brianna responded with grace, McDonald said.
By the time the San Jose internship was over, the men who made comments were coming to her for help, McDonald said.
In the fall, Devore-McDonald will start her doctorate in computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
“My research area is programming languages and systems, (an overlap of) theoretical computer science and applied computer science,” Devore-McDonald said. “So basically, just a lot of math.”
Her plans after she earns her doctorate include finding a teaching position at a small liberal arts college.
“My main aspirations are to teach computer science at the college level,” Devore-McDonald said.
Her goals are to change perceptions about coding and the gender and minority gaps in the field of computer science.
“Liberal arts colleges are neat because many require students to receive a multi-discipline education rather than just a focused education on a particular major, which I think helps expand the mind a bit more,” Devore-McDonald said.
Her interest in liberal arts education blossomed at Notre Dame, a liberal arts school where Devore-McDonald had to take courses outside of her major.
“At first, I really didn’t like the idea of taking a whole year’s worth of philosophy, theology and fine arts classes because I felt like it was taking away time I could spend on computer science courses. Now I’m very appreciative. Those courses taught me about other cultures and different schools of thought.”
Preparation for an ivy league education started well before Devore-McDonald left high school.
The West Valley High graduate took classes after school at Shasta College to prepare for university. None of the credits were accepted by Notre Dame when she entered there in 2013.
“Notre Dame doesn’t accept transfer credit for non-transfer students, so none of the credits I earned at Shasta College during high school went toward my Notre Dame degree,” Devore-McDonald said.
But her Shasta College classes helped Devore-McDonald win a full scholarship.
“It was a mix of my community service, classes and applying to the right scholarships,” Devore-McDonald said.
Her high school counselor helped her find a scholarship for underprivileged students dedicated to their community. It offered a full ride to seven universities for qualifying students who were admitted by the university outside of the scholarship.
“For Notre Dame, the key is to be involved with your community,” Devore-McDonald said. “They want to see students who are passionate about helping others and giving back. I volunteered at a local foster family agency, I tutored in math and I was a Spanish-English translator for young foster children.”
Devore-McDonald said it’s also important students who aspire to attend show interest in higher education and can finish their degree. Perseverance is key.
“Grade point average and test scores matter, but you can’t rely on (them) to get accepted,” Devore-McDonald said. “No matter your background — if you come from a really nice private high school or from an underprivileged community, there will always be opportunity to persevere and show your true colors… That’s what Notre Dame is looking for.”
When asked what advice she’d give to other Shasta County students seeking an ivy league education, Devore-McDonald said she’d push students to get into community service and to “focus less on the names of the institutions you wish to apply to and more on what kind of experience you want.”
“Notre Dame has had a huge influence on the person I am today,” she said. “I didn’t consider that at all when I was applying to universities.”
Among her most memorable experiences at Notre Dame is the recent walkout at graduation when Vice President Mike Pence delivered the commencement address.
“I didn’t join the walkout for personal reasons, but I’m proud of my peers who had the courage to, even in the face of heckling,” she said. “I keep hearing people say they were disrespectful and don’t deserve to be a part of the Notre Dame community, or even threatened to not be hired by certain firms. Protests aren’t meant to be respectful, but I do believe my peers protested in the most respectful way they could.
“…I think it sums up exactly what it means to be a Notre Dame graduate… to always follow our conscience and promote compassion, even when it’s difficult to do.”
