In October 2025, I participated in the Hampton Roads Datathon as part of Team SpraySmart, along with my teammates Kamélia Marchand Vaudrin and Quhura Fathima. We competed against several multidisciplinary teams and won first place for developing an innovative deep learning solution to support mosquito control efforts in Norfolk, Virginia. Our project focused on predicting hotspots of the Aedes albopictus species, commonly known as the tiger mosquito. This mosquito is an aggressive daytime biter that poses a major public health challenge and is resistant to many EPA approved chemical pesticides. To address this, we designed a data driven model that used a Multilayer Perceptron( MLP) to learn relationships between several years of weather variables and mosquito trap counts. The objective of our model was to guide the deployment of the Sterile Insect Technique, which releases sterile male mosquitoes to reduce the wild mosquito population without the use of chemicals. We prepared a clean and structured dataset, performed feature engineering using climate and seasonal indicators, and trained the MLP model to accurately identify locations that were at high risk for mosquito activity. Our approach provided the City of Norfolk with a precise and environmentally safe strategy that could improve their mosquito management planning.
Grace Hopper Celebration( GHC) 2025 – Participant
In November 2025, as the Vice Chair of the ACM-W Student Chapter at Old Dominion University, I was selected and funded by ACM-W to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration( GHC), the largest global conference for women in computing. This event brought together tens of thousands of technologists, researchers, students, and industry leaders. It provided me with an exceptional platform to learn, network, and grow as a woman in technology. During the conference, I participated in a variety of technical breakout sessions, workshops, and keynote presentations. These sessions covered emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud engineering, and leadership development. I also attended hands-on career labs and mentoring circles where I received guidance on career advancement, personal branding, and navigating the tech industry as an international student. One of the most impactful aspects of GHC was the opportunity to meet and network with professionals from major companies such as Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, Capital One, and Deloitte. I engaged in conversations about data analytics, machine learning, and business technology roles, and I gained valuable insights into the skills and competencies that top companies look for in their early talent hires. Attending GHC enriched my technical confidence, helped me expand my professional network, and motivated me to continue contributing to the advancement of women in computing through my leadership role in the ACM-W chapter at ODU. End of Page 12