Jordyn Blakey Wins Coveted Goldwater Scholarship (SPRING 2021)

JORDYN BLAKEY WINS COVETED GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP (SPRING 2021)

Jordyn Blakey has won a Goldwater Scholarship - the most prestigious USA undergraduate scholarship in science and mathematics. Jordyn is a DePauw Class of 2022 Computer Science major. She performed research after both her first year (Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis) and sophomore year (Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) in Japan and DePauw University). Each summer research experience was funded by the National Science Foundation. The DePauw/SIT research resulted from a grant proposal written by Dr. Dave Berque (DePauw Professor of Computer Science) and Dr. Hiroko Chiba. Jordyn said, "Research allowed me to learn from my peers and think about computer science in a different way." During the regular school year, Jordyn also conducted research on the Internet of Things with Dr. Khadija Stewart (DePauw Professor of Computer Science). Along with her research, Jordyn serves as the Head Teaching Assistant (TA) for the Introduction to Computer Science TA program, where she conducts weekly meetings to organize the TAs. Jordyn also chairs the Computing Opportunities for Students of Color organization, is a daily editor for the DePauw student newspaper, and leads a climate justice group. Jordyn holds several scholarships, recently winning The Women in High Tech scholarship (state level). Jordyn states: "As I learn more about algorithms, I am also learning about how algorithms can sometimes be harmful to those they are intended to help. Algorithmic bias occurs when an algorithm mimics the bias of its creator and results in unfair outcomes for marginalized users." Jordyn hopes to use a PhD in Computer Science to conduct research and to mentor undergraduates in a school like DePauw.