Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley Awards First Women in Technology Scholarship

Ivonne Lopez, a student at College of the Canyons (COC), is awarded a US$1,500 Women in Technology Scholarship, the first of its kind offered by Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley, USA, District 9, and Zonta International. The world economy, industry and sciences are becoming increasingly digitized, and these developments are disrupting society and familiar social processes. Women, however, are still largely underrepresented in technology fields. To create a world in which men and women have equal opportunities, women need to have an active role in technology and technological developments. Zonta International offered this year, its new Zonta International Women in Technology Scholarship to encourage women to pursue education, career opportunities, and leadership roles in technology.

Ivonne’s educational goals are to obtain her Accredited Associates Degree from COC and pursue her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Computer Science.  She states that she has “structured her professional goals to be organic and flexible to change.”  She wants to be involved with a number of projects that aim to combat climate change and accumulate the knowledge necessary to follow the most efficient path in truly making a difference with a  life goal to combat climate change.

Ivonne plans to develop software for the public education of energy consumption, develop robust predictive software using machine learning, help develop more customized software for collaborative research, and use data analytics to optimize the efficiency of sustainable energies such as wind, tidal, geothermal, solar, nuclear, etc. The algorithms are limitless!

A recipient of several prior scholarships, Ivonne is secretary for the Master Engineering Science Association and she is starting a campus club that will serve to help others through fundraising to help girls obtain an education in underdeveloped countries.