“I am super-excited and honored to be the New Face of Tech and hope to inspire other women and little girls everywhere to pursue STEAM!” says Shinjini Ghosh, who is a senior at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, double majoring in Computer Science & Engineering and Linguistics, with minors in Mathematics and Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Originally from Kolkata, India, she dreams of using her skills to bring about positive change in the world — such as being able to predict the possibility of cancer for patients in rural areas or being able to diagnose sepsis early in patients before it has the chance to turn fatal.

So far, she’s focused a lot of her research on these areas and looks forward to pursuing graduate studies to continue working on solving challenging problems in innovative ways.

What does being the New Face of Tech mean to you?

Being the New Face of Tech will hopefully help inspire young girls to pursue a career in a very male-dominated arena!

Women are underrepresented in STEAM. How can we change this?

We should form networks of women to help each other up, be assertive, and take our stand in the field.

What are some of the challenges you have faced along the way?

As a woman of color in tech, finding my footing in my field has been the most challenging. It is a tiny setback every time I’m told to stay away from a male-dominated field. I aim to overcome these obstacles by proving the people who have said so wrong, being assertive, connecting with other women in tech, and pushing forward.

How do you stay motivated and focused on your goals?

I wish to use my engineering degree to create an impact in the world through my projects and to better someone’s life, however small or big. Knowing my goal is to help people is what keeps me motivated.

How will funding from the 1,000 Dreams Fund and HARMAN help you reach your goals?

This funding will help me bear some of my academic expenses!