From SCS to San Jose

CMU alumna Jetcheva provides a sense of belonging for students

Carnegie Mellon University alumna Jorjeta G. Jetcheva has never been one to sit back and give in to life's challenges. Instead, she proactively creates opportunities and resources for herself and others to succeed — a trait that has defined her career and benefited countless students following in her footsteps.

It also helped her leave an indelible mark on the School of Computer Science, where she earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science in 2001 and 2004.

Jorjeta attended an event in the second year of her Ph.D. studies that inspired her to create change.

"I had gone to this event for women in science and engineering," she says. "There were presentations about how few women there were at the time in these fields and some negative examples from their professional experiences. These were real and important problems, but it made the event super depressing."

Jorjeta joined CMU after graduating summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College, a women's college in Massachusetts, where she earned her bachelor's degree in computer science and mathematics.

"I came from an environment where there were a lot of women and a great support network to one where there were three women out of the 28 students in my entering class," she says. "I thought, 'There has to be a positive way to create this kind of support network at CMU.'"

She took matters into her own hands and started talking to some classmates who shared her sentiments. Seven graduate students, including Jorjeta, met for a picnic lunch in early 1999 and decided to organize a potluck dinner for women in the School of Computer Science.  

"The dinner exceeded our wildest expectations," Jorjeta says. "Suddenly there were more than 50 of us in a small house, and everybody was super excited. We realized that if we combined women from the different institutes and departments within SCS, there was actually a large number of us."

That gathering grew to become Women@SCS, a thriving program at SCS for people interested in encouraging and supporting academic, social and professional opportunities in the field of computer science for women. After the successful potluck dinner, Jorjeta asked Sharon Burks, associate dean at the time, if the School of Computer Science could fund Women@SCS social events. 

"In her usual style, Sharon gave us her unconditional support and a generous allowance," Jorjeta says.

Jorjeta and her classmate Brigitte Pientka, who graduated in 2003 with her Ph.D. in computer science, served as the first co-chairs of Women@SCS. Under their leadership, the group implemented networking events for graduate students, workshops for middle school students and a mentorship program for undergraduates — all while fostering a positive and fun environment.

After the program's initial launch, it wasn't long before the undergraduate students began to run events on their own. In the fall of that same year, Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science Lenore Blum joined SCS and became the faculty mentor for Women@SCS. She added Carol Frieze, who now serves as director of the program and SCS4ALL, to the team so the organization could grow.  

"Women@SCS was supercharged under Lenore's guidance," Jorjeta says.

After CMU, Jorjeta embarked on a career that has spanned roles in startups, industry, research and academia, while always staying ahead of emerging trends and technologies to determine her next move.

"The job market for networking was pretty bad when I graduated, but smart grid was a growing industry," she says.

So Jorjeta found a role working on smart grid in a networking context at Itron, which specializes in smart meters and smart grid solutions. Knowing that she always wanted to return to academia, she then moved to Fujitsu Research, where she switched her focus to machine learning and artificial intelligence. At Fujitsu, Jorjeta won a number of awards, including being a top 10 finalist in the 2016 Fujitsu Next Generation Product Idea Contest for her project, "Robo Butler." The company flew Jorjeta to Japan to present to the CEO and board of directors of Fujitsu Global. Then, as a senior manager and AI distinguished research scientist at Accenture, Jorjeta led a team that built and deployed virtual assistants for companies like UPS.

After 16 years in industry, Jorjeta returned to academia as an assistant professor of computer engineering at San Jose State University, a career move she made to be in an environment where she could empower students.

"When I was in industry, I was working 16 hours a day," she says. "I didn't have the energy to do anything else. I feel like I can do more and be more impactful this way."

It's not surprising that Jorjeta spends her time at San Jose State working to provide opportunities for students in computer science and engineering, including those limited resource backgrounds. She recently became the principal investigator for a $2.5 million National Science Foundation S-STEM grant focused on creating summer and research programs that empower under-resourced students from 10th grade through their degree completion at San Jose State. Throughout her expansive career, Jorjeta has won two best paper awards, earned more than 40 patents and had her research cited more than 13,000 times.

But at the core of her work remains the desire to make computer science and related fields more accessible. She believes that reaching students early can help them establish the confidence to pursue opportunities they may not have considered otherwise.

"Empowering students with knowledge, a growth mindset and a sense of belonging in tech can create a foundation for success and resilience throughout their careers," she says.

Thanks to Jorjeta, many School of Computer Science students have gained that resilience. But as Women@SCS approaches its 25th anniversary, Jorjeta says she didn't consider the program's longevity when she helped create it.

"I was so concerned with how to fix things in that moment. I wasn't even thinking about how it might be sustained and for how long," she says. "We just created a small spark, and the results were amazing."