Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.
Bhanuja Nagore
Analytics Lead @ Dell
Bhanuja was inspired to pursue a career in STEM because of the impact that her father has made as a civil engineer. She has achieved two master’s degrees and uses her skills as an Analytics Lead at Dell. We are so excited to hear more about her experiences and passion for STEM today!
What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?
There is a huge gender gap in Technology field and to fill that gap we need to start mentoring girls from High schools. The foundation should start at an early stage and hence would love to inspire and motivate girls from Girlstart. STEM field is magical and I strongly believe if girls get the opportunity from school, they can create wonders and we can have great future Scientists, Doctors & Engineers from Girlstart.
Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?
My Father is a Civil Engineer and since childhood I have seen him building huge River reservoirs & Dams. He has provided Water to towns and suburbs for agricultural & household purposes. I was so fascinated by him as a child because I can see that he was supporting & helping thousands of people. I too decided to carry his legacy and through STEM if I can create difference in the lives of many by taking one step at a time.
Briefly describe your career.
Leads the Analytics capability includes reporting to Leadership and Sales, building Machine learning models, generating Leads for Business and working on new business opportunities to generate revenue and value for customers. Passionate about creating awareness for STEM education and mentoring students.
What are your favorite things about your field?
It is an intersection of Mathematics, Technology & Business. With the power of data, I can influence leaders to take calculative Business decisions that can drive value for customers & create difference in the society. This field is just like solving real puzzles but has a huge impact because you drive yourself to create innovation.
What projects have you worked on?
I have worked on projects related to Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning using Natural Language Processing & regression models. The text mining project using Natural Language processing has helped the company in evaluating Employees Feedback into meaning responses. The algorithm converts the heavy and large verbose text into Themes or Titles. It is so efficient that it can create the summary of entire document.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
As I am from India and grew up in a small town, I never thought that I will pursue Masters from the U.S. I am the only one in my Family who came to a land of opportunity & dreams and did second Masters from Northeastern University, Boston and was selected as a Young Scholar in Brown University. Now inspiring other girls in the Family to come here, study and make career in STEM.
What would you like to tell girls who are interested in pursuing a STEM career? What words of encouragement would you share with them?
Just try and it’s okay to experience failure because only failure can change your perspective and mold your career. Find your passion within STEM, EXPLORE deeper & learn from great leaders. Always believe in the power of your dreams to triumph.
Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?
Challenges for women in STEM are complicated because of the roles they often play in families. In families girls are taught to be silent and listen more. Because of the gender gap in the tech industry, especially in meetings mostly there is 4:1 male-female ratio where females tends to listen even they have some exceptional inputs and prefer to remain silent. Women who succeed in STEM must be able to “speak up when they’re overlooked.” In all-girls learning environments, students should be encouraged to use their voice, better preparing them to speak up first in the classroom and later in professional settings. Hence Confidence is the key to speak up and make others hear your voice.
