By special release from Morgan State University
A cohort of six students from Morgan State University (Morgan) have enrolled in Google’s prestigious Tech Exchange program. The students, four juniors and two seniors, all majoring in computer science, spent a semester learning from professors at Google and Morgan and were honored at a final ceremony recently held at Google’s South Lake office. Union in Seattle, Washington.
Google Tech Exchange serves as a pipeline program that helps prepare Black, Latino, and Indigenous students for tech internships at Google and beyond. The 2023 cohort is made up of 180 students from select historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) in North America. Students learn applied computer and problem-solving skills and are matched with a mentor to help them develop professionally and build social capital and community. Morgan students have been participating in Tech Exchange since the 2018/19 academic year; to date, 24 students have completed the program.
The six Morgan students who participated in the program this year were Toluwanimi Ayodele (senior), Moja Williams (senior), Shane Miller (junior), Ogundiran Aramide (junior), Lerone Joyner (junior) and Daniel Oluwarotimi (junior).
“We are delighted to see Tech Exchange’s continued growth over the past six years. This year’s cohort is the largest and most diverse yet, with 180 students from eleven HBCUs and five HSIs represented. Our goal is to make students feel seen, supported, and engaged by the Google community. By the end of the program, students tell us they feel more confident in their abilities as programmers and have developed a deeper sense of belonging to the industry. said Ernest Holmes, Tech Exchange technical program manager.
The Google Tech Exchange is a semester-long virtual university program that teaches applied computer science and problem-solving skills, while building social capital and community among students from select HBCUs and HSIs. Courses in the program are designed to help participating students prepare for an interview at Google, deepen their knowledge, and provide access to different pathways into the tech industry. It is also designed to introduce students to the many roles and career options they may not know about or have access to, such as product managers, UX researchers, and data scientists. machine learning.
“With the advent of OpenAI/ChatGPT and advances in data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing and quantum computing, an even greater opportunity for underrepresented groups to contribute to the technology industry has been realized. At the same time, we are transforming the way we prepare our students, especially those studying computer science, to adapt to a changing industry,” said Paul Wang, Ph. D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science “Each year, each new cohort of Google Tech Exchange students expands their knowledge through a cutting-edge curriculum and then applies that knowledge directly while participating in summer internships. significant, before completing their enrollment and landing high-paying careers with some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
Since 2013, Morgan’s computer science program has exploded in popularity and seen enrollment increase by more than 192%.
