“As someone who’s lived both abroad and in the United States, the opportunity to make MSOE feel more at home for students of diverse backgrounds is something I love to do,” said Sumedha Sanjeev.  

Sanjeev, who is vice president of MSOE’s International Student Association (ISA), was born in the U.S. and lived in different cities before moving to Hyderabad, India as a young child. Being part of ISA gives her the opportunity to celebrate and learn about cultures apart from her own. She also is a member of Kappa Sigma Mu, a multicultural service sorority that celebrates and embraces diversity at MSOE.  

While she considers Hyderabad her hometown, she was drawn to the states for college. She chose MSOE for its small class sizes. 

“I knew that I wasn’t going to be one amongst many students in a huge lecture hall. I can go to my professors’ office hours knowing that they’ll be more than willing to help on a topic that I’m stuck on. Even after I’ve taken a professor for a course, they still recognize me outside of class and I think that personal connection that I have with my professors and peers as well, makes MSOE worth it.”  

Sanjeev is majoring in computer science and works as a research assistant with her academic advisor, Dr. RJ Nowling. “My professors know me by name, and a lot of them know which application of computer science I enjoy the most since it’s come up in casual conversation. I think this is what also helped me land my job as a research assistant.”  

With this research, she is learning about practically using coding libraries and tools that she’d only read about in theory. “This research combines two fields I’m particularly interested in—biology and computer science—and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have a hands-on experience like this.” 

“I love math, logic, data analysis and how humans interact with technology. The world is becoming increasingly reliant on computer science, and artificial intelligence has an impact in various disciplines. I would like to eventually work on the medical and biological applications of machine learning with the hope that what I work on will have an impact on human lives.”

Sanjeev first learned about the CREATE Institute at MSOE in one of her Freshman Studies classes. The opportunity to do community projects and take computer science outside the classroom are two reasons she was inspired to become a CREATE Student Fellow. She also works to foster the MSOE Mindset.  

“The MSOE Mindset is a great way to inspire us to make an impact in our community. The traits that particularly stick with me are being self-aware, ethical and creating value with what we’ve learned. I believe being aware of our strengths and weaknesses is crucial to being a good leader, as well as using our knowledge for the right reasons.”