Sydney Hunt

“I have gained so much knowledge and confidence! And it is not limited to the area of technology, although I have learned to code in R, navigate PACE, and so much more. I have better discovered the benefit of working with a team and received motivation and mentors by seeing female-identifying students, like myself, succeed. Hearing their success stories via panels or team meetings has given me so much more confidence as a young woman wanting to pursue a career in STEM. I see that it is possible! I also have never worked with data before Data+, but never felt behind in my lack of knowledge as my team is super supportive. They Zoom me outside of the workday and send me resources to help me complete my assignments. I’ve also realized that I do have an interest in Data Science and feel like I’m making a difference in the world through this program. Knowing that my project (Predicting Blindness in Duke’s Glaucoma Patient Population) is going to help so many clinicians, government officials, patients and more is so empowering. It is crazy to think that I am just 19 years old and working on such an advanced project with beyond accomplished students, doctors, and professors, but I’m doing it! Data+ truly has given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and network in a safe environment. I find these takeaways pretty impressive, especially since it is all remote this year.”