Cohort Member Emanda Seifu

Emanda is a college freshman attending Virginia Tech. She has been a member of the STEM Impressionists Program (SIP), a non-profit organization that supports minority girls in exploring STEM and part of the SIP Executive Board for 5 years. She was elected to the SIP Board upon high school graduation.

Emanda participated in the 2019 Catholic University QuarkNet Physics Seminar where she applied physics concepts to real-world scenarios. She obtained the opportunity to visit the National Cathedral and study the movement of muons (which are subatomic particles) in buildings with different architectural designs. The connections Emanda made at the QuarkNet Seminar led her to arrange a workshop with CAPE Science.

Ms. Seifu was recognized for her Aspirations in Technology and has been awarded the 2019 NCWIT National Certificate of Distinction, the 2020 NCWIT Honorable Mention Award, and was recently named a 2021 NCWIT Virginia & District of Columbia Affiliate Winner.

Emanda has taught at George Mason University’s Females Of Color Underrepresented in STEM Camp (FOCUS). She co-taught middle school students about optics using STEM projects such as building a spectrometer.

Emanda was chosen for an internship with iSchool for the Future as a Digital Marketing Communication Intern. Her responsibilities included creating a marketing campaign for Giving Tuesday and managing the organization’s website. Emanda was also an Educator & Curriculum Designer for the Bright CS Camp; she created lesson plans relating to STEM activities and led student discussions about education and the cyberworld. Emanda plans to study computer science in college, and continue to explore her passion for STEM.