By innovatively merging her fiery passion for politics and technical expertise in STEM fields, Fadumo Osman is coming closer each day to her ultimate goal of empowering younger girls and their paths to education. Keep reading for details on Fadumo’s phenomenal journey.
The DL
- Name: Fadumo Osman
- School & Major: Tandon School of Engineering, Computer Science ’18
- Hometown: San Jose, CA
- Your Bet on the Next President: It depends on which groups come out to vote, but probably Hillary Clinton.
HC NYU: As a computer science major, you’ve been a huge voice in pushing more minorities into STEM fields. How successful have your efforts been?
FO: Back in high school, a few peers as well as some teachers worked together to survey why certain groups, such as girls and minorities, were dropping out of higher level STEM courses even though they were initially doing very well in them. We conducted hundreds of surveys, and from that we were able to create an innovative student led presentation about the facts as well as our solutions to the issue. This past April, we were able to show educators from across the country what we had found to be the reason why certain groups aren’t represented well. We found various reasons from microaggressions, not having enough resources, to lack of support. From that we were able to scale our suggestions not only from a school that served a couple hundreds of students but also to a national campaign that would spread across the country. I feel like the start was small, but now the momentum is gaining, as the number of women in STEM fields is on the rapid rise. There is still a very long road ahead, but the initial steps are taking place.
HC NYU: You’re the Deputy Communications Director for the statewide federation, College Democrats of New York. When and how did you get involved?
FO: So last year I joined NYU’s College Democrats just as a member and came to every meeting. I was able to see why it wasn’t worth remaining apathetic, despite seeing the circus our government seemed to be. I became really involved through Chloe Chik, the former Campaign Director and current President, and even went to the Winter Summit for College Democrats, a national organization, which was in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention. I had the opportunity to hear President Obama speak and meet other college students that wanted to see drive change in our government. This is why I joined the College Democrats of NY as Deputy Communications Director, where I am able to apply my skills in social media marketing and graphic design.
HC NYU: Which social issue is most important to you and why?
FO: Education on a global scale. There have been a lot of campaigns in getting girls to learn- an issue our First Lady Michelle Obama has been fighting for. To me, as the daughter of Somali immigrants, I am very fortunate to be getting such a prestigious education at this time, pursuing what I want to without the pressure of cultural expectations. My ultimate goal would be to go back to Somalia and working on education not only in terms of expanding STEM, but also empowering younger girls in Somalia to see the opportunities that can be achieved through getting a proper education.
HC NYU: What originally sparked your passion for politics?
FO: I joined my first campaign my junior year of high school after a campaign staffer informed us that our local Congressman was running for office again. So I decided to join the re-election campaign for my local Congressman. To my surprise, I found out the amount of work he has done for STEM, as well as giving back to the community in terms of solving poverty issues. Working on a congressional campaign in high school showed me how chaotic the world of politics could be. Beforehand, I always had the image of politics as something tedious and full of jargon I thought I would never comprehend. But through this experience, I found that a lot of people who run campaigns these days are high schoolers, college students, or graduate students. Seeing how much of an impact someone of my age could have on a campaign that involves thousands of residents sparked my interest in politics.
HC NYU: This past October, you received a scholarship from Target to attend the largest gathering of women in computing, the Grace Hopper Conference. Can you tell me more about it?
FO: The Grace Hopper Conference which took place at Houston, TX, is the largest global gathering of 12,000 women in computing. We went through hundreds of talks including ones by US Chief Technology Officer, Megan Smith to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. There were also presentations by our own peers in college, and of course there were lively events such as parties hosted by Yahoo. Seeing the kind of involvement I can have in competing from working on medical devices to social media companies was an eye opener for me. Even though there is a great community of diligent women competing at NYU, seeing thousands of woman having a great time in addition to addressing issues gave me hope rather than worrying about the dismal numbers of women dropping out of these fields. Seeing so many women successful in computing careers was invigorating and promising. I’m so grateful for having had the opportunity to attend through a sponsorship from Target. Hopefully I am given the opportunity to take part in this amazing experience again next year.
HC NYU: Can you tell me about your internship experience with Do Something?
FO: This past September, I started working for Do Something. However, I volunteered for Do Something in high school by hosting a Teens for Jeans drive from my freshman to senior year. I was always a big advocate of how they meshed relevant and viral content and people with important campaigns with deeper messages. They’re very responsive to the issues going on in the world now, from Black Lives Matter to the Paris attacks to saving our planet by being aware of our eco habits. They’re experts at taking these huge complicated issues and breaking them down so that very young members are able to understand what is going on. Right now, I work for their scholarships team, so I primarily deal with finance, marketing, and user experience to ensure that funds are allocated correctly to deserving members. It is definitely my favorite not-for-profit organization.
HC NYU: You’re pretty outspoken in your political beliefs, especially on social media. Have you ever faced criticism, and if so, how do you respond?
FO: Yes, I have felt or faced opposition to my views, but the way I respond is to always have an engaging conversation afterwards. I believe that social media is great to get your thoughts out there, but it is not the best medium to have a meaningful, full on conversation. And so if someone doesn’t agree or feels there is a better solution, I alway invite them to come have coffee with me or just to talk off of Facebook, because it’s a conversation starter. It’s not where it should happen. Even though there have been comments on my statuses, I always prefer talking in person because debating for hours in the Facebook comment section isn’t something I want to do. I feel like it’s a beneficial process though, because even though at first people are emotional and may be uncomfortable, it’s a great way to get ideas from one another. It’s definitely needed because there’s no way you will find a solution if a majority isn’t involved on both sides.
HC NYU: What do you hope to achieve with your degree in computer science?
FO: I want to work on government systems. For example, at the Office of Science and Technology, the CTO, Megan Smith (my idol), leads projects that deal with revamping outdated social systems. So for example, applying for citizenship shouldn’t have to require paper, faxing, and mailing. It should be a very simple interface that you work with. I would love to work on a task that scales something that the government puts out there. Take President Obama for example. His health care reform initially turned out to be a fiasco, but he and his administration reached out to Silicon Valley engineers, and they eventually worked together to solve the issue. I firmly believe that engineers will be one of the biggest assets to the government. I hope that I too can work on these systems in the near future.
And to jazz things up…
- Man Crush Monday: Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada
- Favorite Food Truck: Halal Guys -you can never go wrong.
- Ideal Christmas Gift: Malia coming to NYU
- Book Everyone Should Read: “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander
- Favorite Spot in the City: Brooklyn Promenade
Follow Fadumo on social media: Facebook: Fadumo Osman, Instagram: @ofadumo, Twitter: @ofadumo96
Catch Fadumo live tweeting from the White House at their first CS Tech Jam for students during the start of Computer Science Education Week on December 7th!