((PKG)) TECH AND GIRLS
((Banner: Bridging a Gap))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Map: United States / California / Los Angeles))
((NATS))
((CAITLYN CLABAUGH, PhD CANDIDATE, USC COMPUTER SCIENCE))
I’m Caitlyn Clabaugh. So, I’m studying computer science. I’m in the computer science department here, but my research is focused on machine learning applied to human robot interaction. For me, I really didn’t do computer science until I got into undergrad and I did it to avoid a math class. I was a Fine Arts major. I was not planning on doing this at all. When there is a clear application to a real human usage, it, sort of, bridged the gap for me. I was interested in the arts. I was interested in all these things and then I found that I could create with computer science.
((NATS))
This is KIWI. KIWI is a socially assistive robot. Currently the application that I’m focused on is children with autism spectrum disorder. So, KIWI has been deployed in multiple homes right now with children with ASD and it’s helping them do math exercises as well as recognize human emotions. Definitely focusing on special needs is very special to me. I’ve, like, struggled with dyslexia my entire life.
((NATS))
((KATIE MILLS, MANAGES USC ROBOTICS OPEN HOUSE))
Girls have different motivations, and they want to know that robots are helping society. You know that there’s fewer people, especially women, majoring in computer science in college now than there were 30 years ago. And there’re so many jobs, there are so many colleges that are searching for people to study computer science. I think that the message hasn’t been how robots and computers can benefit society and there was just that stereotype that it’s just a bunch of hackers in a dark room.
We have a really clear goal for the robotics open house and that is to excite students, teachers and families. To let them see the labs where the research and robotics is going on, this is going to be the stuff that’s going to be important in five or 10 years. And we feel that if the kids could actually see the robots, hear the PhD students and the faculty members talk about what their research is and why it’s important, how robots benefit society. We see through experience that the kids get really excited, then they go back to their classrooms and they go back to their homes more motivated to learn about coding, maybe do some robotics on their own or join an afterschool robotics club.
((HAYLIEE TAT, LOVES ROBOTS))
Personally, I have been in robotics and my team is Robogirls. To me, this is a great way to meet new people, learn more, and just have your creativity flow out.
((KATIE MILLS, MANAGES USC ROBOTICS OPEN HOUSE))
My whole job is to do STEM outreach to underprivileged minorities, underrepresented minorities. This is just one day out of the year. The other 364 days of the year, I’m working in local schools. It is super important to reach out to the schools that are under-resourced. They don’t, maybe, have enough robotics equipment or, maybe, they have teachers that are a little uncomfortable teaching computer science. We have some resources to help them learn and teach.
((HAYLIEE TAT, LOVES ROBOTS))
It’s like a fire. If you light a spark, it will go on forever.
