How the Stories were Collected

The stories you’ll find on this website come from real college students in Texas who are studying computer science at schools called Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Researchers talked with these students to learn about their journeys—from their early school days all the way to college including the best moments, the hardest challenges, and the big turning points that changed everything for them.

In these interviews, students shared what got them interested in computing, the tough times they faced, and what helped them keep going. Some students talk about how their families encouraged them, others share how friends and mentors helped them find their way, and some explain how their own determination, beliefs, or language and communication skills kept them moving forward—even when things felt impossible. By listening to their experiences, we can all learn what it takes to succeed in STEM and how we can help each other along the way. We hope these stories inspire you to keep exploring, learning, and believing in yourself—because everyone’s STEM journey is unique, and you have what it takes to succeed too!

Creative Process from MiHyun

When I first joined this project, I was excited because it focuses on telling the stories of young people from communities that aren’t always represented in STEM. This connects perfectly with my research, which is all about empowering historically marginalized voices through creative design and helping more people feel included and inspired in STEM fields. To bring these stories to life, I worked closely with my graduate research assistant, Jaina Warren. Together, we wanted to make the website not just fun to look at, but also interactive—so you could really connect with each student’s journey. Jaina created original illustrations, while I combined my love of graphic design, creative coding, and web design/development to build the site.

At the start, we explored different art styles and ideas to find the best way to show each person’s story honestly and deeply. I especially enjoyed mixing hands-on drawings with computer-generated graphics made through creative coding. It was exciting to see how art and technology could work together!

Creative coding played a big role in this project. I used resources like the p5.js community—a friendly group where anyone can learn to code and make art—and OpenProcessing to prototype and test ideas. I also learned from the book Generative Design by Benedikt Groß, Hartmut Bohnacker, Julia Laub, and Claudius Lazzeroni, which teaches how to create amazing visuals using code. To make sure everything worked smoothly, I used openAI tools to help fix and improve my code.

Once our ideas were ready, we uploaded our creative coding projects to Github and brought everything together on the website using Cargo, a platform that lets artists and designers build interactive websites with lots of custom features.

Special Thanks to:
This project would not have been possible without the leadership of Dr. Shetay Ashford-Hanserd, whose vision initiated this work, and the ongoing support from Dr. Hough, Dr. Kukde and the full research team.


Credits

Research Team
Dr. Shetay Ashford-Hanserd, Principal Investigator
  • Provided the vision for the project 
  • Led efforts to broaden participation in STEM through storytelling 
  • Conceptualized the project and secured NSF grant funding 
  • Developed the interview protocol, conducted interviews, and led data analysis
 Dr. Twyla Hough, CAREER Project Director and Postdoctoral Scholar
  • Managed project operations and team supervision 
  • Conducted interviews and contributed to data analysis
Dr. Ruchi Kukde, Postdoctoral Scholar
  • Oversaw project activities and team coordination 
  • Conducted interviews and contributed to data analysis
IIa Wallace, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Assisted with sound clip editing and creation of timelines for student profiles 
Kusum Bhattarai Sharma, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Contributed to coding for the timeline on the website 
  • Supported sound clip editing and development of timelines for student profiles
Shreya Upreti, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Assisted with sound clip editing and student profile timelines 
Trinity Rosado, Graduate Research Assistant
  • Assisted with SoundCloud uploads, management of SoundCloud account, and timeline development for student profiles
Arnob Kumar Saha, Dr. Diana Garza, and Dr. Emily Summers
  • Conducted interviews and contributed to data analysis 

Design Team
MiHyun Kim, Creative Design Lead  
  • Conceptualized the interviews 
  • Designed and developed the website 
  • Creative Coding in p5.js
Jaina Warren, Graduate Research Assistant
  • Illustrations
  • Assisted with SoundCloud profiles

Resources
Creative Coding
Interviews