Eat, sleep, code, lead
International graduate student and force to be reckoned with Vipanchi Chacham is studying computer science with a focus in big data systems. Chacham is a hardworking student who has gone and will continue to go far in developer sectors. Apart from working as a part-time web developer for SolarSPELL, a company dedicated to fostering education and technical literacy in offline environments, Chacham is also a researcher for ASU’s Cognitive and Ubiquitous Computing lab, a volunteer, an elected Assembly member of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, a Major League Hacking organizer and a vlogger.
As a researcher at the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing or CUBiC, which is a human-computer interaction lab, Chacham is part of a team that is collaborating with Intel on radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors. When the sensors are attached to tables, chairs and other objects, the radio frequency will be detected and recorded on an app.
“The app is for people who cannot see,” said Chacham, who came to ASU from her home country of India. “The person can move their fingers over the room layout and through audio hear the objects around the room.”
In October 2019, Chacham volunteered at the Grace Hopper Conference in Orlando, Florida. According to Chacham, the conference is hosted only in India and the United States.
From left: Rahulrajan Karthikeyan and Vipanchi Chacham at a Google student developer meeting at ASU
“This conference encourages a lot of women to get into tech,” Chacham explained.
She says women come from all around the world to be a part of this; this year there were more than 26,000. She felt honored to be one of only 200 volunteers selected from all over the world.
“Whatever I did previously here at ASU and before, such as my volunteer experiences, mattered for me to get selected,” Chacham noted.
One of her proudest achievements is the work she does with the Graduate Professional Student Association. GPSA is the student government for graduate students at ASU. They strive to give students, in every graduate college, a voice.
Her time in GPSA has been defined by national and local impact. Chacham was part of a team of graduate students who, two years ago, spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., about a bill that would have taxed graduate students’ stipends. The Assembly members spoke on behalf of the research and teaching assistants, and the tax was stalled. She was shocked and elated that GPSA members’ voices mattered so much. Chacham decided to represent the School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering and was elected to be an Assembly member. She and her engineering committee, with the help of the ASU administration, successfully improved the course selection system, which will be implemented after Chacham graduates.
“Even though this won’t be useful for me, I am glad whoever joins ASU has an advantage with this,” she said.
Chacham was also the host of the Women’s Leadership Mixer, which she hosted along with three other active GPSA members. This was her first time hosting an event, so she didn’t expect a large turnout. She invited the director of Women Who Code Phoenix and other influential women as panel members.
The aim was for women to come, network, make connections with each other and also to find mentors. Chacham and the Women’s Leadership Mixer crew expected 50 people; 140 signed up.
“We wanted to do something for women and encourage them to do whatever they wanted,” she said. “I got great exposure pursuing my master’s here; I found very supportive mentors.”
Chacham wanted the mixer’s attendees to share her experiences. “We introduced a panel of successful women and showed that if there is a will, along with a good mentor, anyone can be successful.”
If you’re having a hard time keeping up with Chacham, don’t worry. She has her own YouTube travel channel! You can find her here if you want to catch her on her many adventures.