Founded in 1999, CSWN is a student led organization at Purdue University dedicated to helping women in the Computer Science (CS) field.
Corporate Liaison
Year: 2026, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Saumya is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. Her favorite part of CSWN is the encouraging and inclusive environment for women in CS and DS. In her free time, she loves to play the violin!
Marketing Specialist
Year: 2024, Senior
Major: Computer Science
Saisravani is majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Software Engineering and Machine Intelligence. Her favorite part of being involved with CSWN is the supporting and welcoming community. She also loves meeting new people by attending the various events and workshops. In her free time, she loves to cook!
President
Year: 2025, Junior
Major: Computer Science and Data Science
Minor: Mathematics
Aarini is majoring in Computer Science and Data Science with a concentration in Machine Intelligence and a minor in Math. She is passionate about achieving gender equality in the tech industry, and her favorite part of CSWN is networking with amazing women in computer science. She is also fluent in 3 languages!
Secretary
Year: 2026, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Management
Chaewon is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Management. Her favorite part of CSWN is getting a chance to connect with other women in CS. At Purdue, she is also involved with WISP (Women in Science Programs) as a mentor. In her free time, she likes to listen to music and watch movies with her friends!
Corporate Liaison
Year: 2024, Senior
Major: Computer Science
Kay is majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Security and Database and Information Systems. Her favorite part of CSWN is getting to make authentic relationships with other members in an empowering community. She is also a huge K-Pop fan and loves NCT Dream!
Vice President
Year: 2025, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Shreyaa is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. Her favorite part of CSWN is being able to connect with so many like-minded individuals. She has also been doing Odissi (an Indian classical dance form) for 14 years!
Puzzle Day Director
Year: 2025, Junior
Major: Computer Science
Manasi is a junior majoring in Computer Science. Her favorite part of CSWN is Puzzle Day, and in her free time she likes to workout!
Puzzle Master
Year: 2026, Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Anisha is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science. Her favorite part about CSWN is hosting workshops where everyone can come together to learn something new and bond!
Treasurer
Year: 2027, Freshman
Major: Computer Science
Arushi is a freshman majoring in Computer Science. Her favorite part of CSWN is attending fun interactive workshops and connecting with other amazing women in CS. A fun fact is that her birthday in on Halloween!
Founding Member
The woman who started it all, Barbara Clark founded the CSWN we know today. By doing so, she has brought hundreds of women together under the bond of computer science. Barb dedicated her time at Purdue making sure that CSWN was alive and thriving, and she remained the Faculty Advisor for CSWN until she retired in 2014.
Faculty Advisor
Sonia Fahmy is the faculty advisor for CSWN. Sonia started off her role as Faculty Advisor with Barbara Clark in fall 2013 and took over as the sole advisor in October of 2015 once Barb retired. Sonia is a professor in the CS department at Purdue University.
Alumnus
Bridgette graduated from Purdue in May 2016 and is currently working as a Program Manager at Microsoft.
Alumnus
Andrea Lynn Evensen (née Carollo) (B.S. Comp. Sci. 2001) graduated from Purdue with Distinction after having received numerous scholarships and being, inter alia, the Vice President of Mortar Board and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, she attended the John Marshall Law School (J.D. 2004) and was, inter alia, a published member of Law Review, a twice published Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Morrissey Scholars, and an Associate Justice for Moot Court. She graduated magna cum laude. Ms. Evensen is an associate with Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., and is a registered patent attorney. She was named a 2009 Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers. Her intellectual property law practice focuses on litigation disputes, including those involving trade secrets, patents, software-related matters, and contracts. With a background in computer science, her prosecution docket focuses not only on patent prosecution in the computer arts, but also comprises patent prosecution and opinion writing in the mechanical arts, medical arts, and business methods. Her practice also includes copyright and trademark issues. Ms. Evensen is married to Michael Evensen (B.S. M.E.T. 2001), and together they have a wonderful son named Gregory and a dog named Cinder Scrumps. They reside in Elgin, Illinois.
Alumnus
Valerie Anne Fenwick (née Bubb) is a Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems with over a decade of experience in computer security. Valerie is currently working on getting the Solaris Cryptographic Framework, of which she was a designer and major contributor, certified by US Government standards (FIPS-140). She is the lead for the Open Solaris Change Request Team, responsible for making decisions as to what code changes are incorporated into the Operating System and Networking consolidation, and one of the sponsors for the Open Solaris project. She is a leader in redefining the software bugtracking strategy and processes used across Sun today. Previously Valerie was the technical lead for the release of Solaris 10 1/06 and was responsible for the NAT implementation as well as other network security features of the SunScreen firewall. Valerie has a B.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University. In her spare time, she enjoys performing at community theaters, riding her bike, and skiing.
Alumnus
Erika Shehan Poole is a PhD candidate in human-centered computing at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on how groups collaborate to use, maintain, and make sense of computing technologies; areas of study have included home technology maintenance practices, public understandings of emerging technologies, workplace adoption of collaboration software, and collaborative gaming technologies for improving health and wellness. Erika holds a BS degree in computer science from Purdue University and an MS in computer science from Georgia Tech. She is a member of IEEE, ACM, SIGCHI, and the ACM US Public Policy Committee. She has been awarded a Georgia Tech Presidential Fellowship, an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a US Department of Homeland Security Fellowship, and the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. In 2006-2007, she was a pre-doctoral fellow in the Sam Nunn International Security Program. In her spare time, Erika is a group fitness instructor and personal trainer at the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center, and an active member of Toastmasters International.
Alumnus
Janice Zdankus is Vice President of Infrastructure Software and Blades Services in the Enterprise Business Group and Technology Services division at Hewlett-Packard. She is responsible for profitable revenue growth and customer satisfaction of worldwide software support services, a high-growth segment of the HP Services portfolio. She is also responsible for customer experience and quality for the company's Enterprise Infrastructure Software and Blades products. Previously, Zdankus led Worldwide Warranty Planning and Strategy as a Senior Director for the Enterprise Storage and Server Group at HP. Prior to that, she was Senior Research and Development Director leading the diagnostics and system event management engineering laboratory for Business Critical Servers Division. Since first joining HP in 1985 as a software design engineer, Zdankus has held several other senior leadership positions in marketing, customer support and business planning. Zdankus earned Bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Industrial Management from Purdue University. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University in California.
To add our calendar, click on the button in the bottom right corner of the calendar above.
Puzzle Day is an all day event, where participants spend the day solving fun, challenging puzzles. Winners received cool prizes like Echo Dot, JBL speakers, and Rubik's Cubes. Everyone got free pizza and t-shirts!
New CS students attended the 2022 Fall Callout to learn more about CSWN.
Pictures from the annual CSWN photo shoot
A panel of proffessionals from various tech companies came and talked about women in technology. Panelists shared their experiences working at tech companies, and gave advice for leveling the playing field.
If you are a Computer Science related company and would like to sponsor CSWN, please contact us at cswn@cs.purdue.edu.
ELFI is an organization designed to assist and educate borrowers with student loan debt. To help female students pursue their dreams, they've put together a guide to the best STEM scholarships for women.
Annuity is a site dedicated to providing the most accurate information on financial literacy accredited by the Better Business Bureau. In hopes of promoting higher education for women, they have created a guide on scholarship information and financial literacy.
The USB is a group made up of a maximum of twelve undergraduates in the Department of Computer Science who are determined to make Purdue a better place to study and obtain a degree.
Purdue Hackers is a community of students devoted to the idea that Purdue needs to embrace the kind of "hacker culture" that's found in places like Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Austin. Their mission is to bring that culture here by hosting events where hackers can meet and learn from one another.
ACM at Purdue is an organization for connecting students, faculty and companies for the betterment of the computing community. As a representative of one the world's most influential computing organizations, they provide academic resources, forums for the spreading of ideas, and communities for technological discovery and growth.
WISP is composed of four components: Residential Program, Tutoring Program, Undergraduate Mentoring Program, Graduate Mentoring Program. These four components work together to form a continuous environment that fosters success for students in the College of Science at Purdue University from freshman year through Ph.D.
Systers is a forum for all women involved in the technical aspects of computing. The community has over 6,000 members from at least 60 countries around the world.
A global institute that supports women in technology through many different venues such as the Systers organization and the Grace Hopper Conference.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is the World's Largest Gathering of Women Technologists. It is produced by the Anita Borg Institute and presented in partnership with ACM.
Purdue's resource for interviews, resume reviews, and help with your job search during school and after graduation.
Location to learn about and apply for scholarships for Purdue Computer Science students.
Has information for all the current events happening for the Purdue CS Department, such as job openings, club meetings and callouts, and company recruitment days.