The Value of Liberal Arts in STEM
At Blueprint, we strive to bring in developers who are both diverse in their experiences and who believe in achieving more than just academic excellence. Today we talked to one of our developers on the Free Software Foundation project, Franco Monterrosa, about his personal experience in computer science and his insights on using technology for the future good.
Franco, whose family is from El Salvador, is currently a senior at UC Berkeley studying Computer Science and Rhetoric.
Through his broad range of interests, Franco integrates the values of his liberal arts experiences and his STEM education to try to bring an innovative and multidisciplinary perspective to his work.
How do you envision the future of your CS career?
I’m extremely interested in smart cities, and someday I’d like to create an operating system for a city. I want to build cities that connect people and create communities, where people meet each other from a place of empathy. Cities should be walkable at night, have easy access to help and resources, and be clean and accessible. I believe that with smart cities we will have the data and analysis to help keep cities healthy and friendly for its citizens.
Besides being influenced by my friends, there were a couple of big factors that pointed me in this direction. I’ve had great exposure through living and traveling throughout the Berkeley, Daly City, and San Francisco areas. At Berkeley, I was able to audit a couple of super exciting classes on city planning. I also want to help my mom, who takes the Muni every day between San Francisco and Daly City. Being in the Bay Area my entire life, I hope to travel more to other cities like Chicago to gain a greater perspective and more data points.
I want to build cities that connect people and create communities, where people meet each other from a place of empathy.
How did you end up studying CS?
Originally I started my college career entering as an Environmental Economics and Policy major. One of my dreams was to become the chairman of the federal reserve. It’s funny though, that dream was put on pause because the first class I took was “Rhetorics of Life” class, which sparked a huge interest for me to pursue rhetoric as a major. Nevertheless, I realized that to fulfill my dream of building cities I would need an interdisciplinary approach, which led me to explore a bunch of different classes ranging from business to psychology.
Throughout this period of searching, I longed for something that would allow me to use my creativity to create something amazing. I always carry with me a notebook, which is filled with sketches of logos, thoughts on projects, and designs for products. As a result of this search, I discovered computer science as a vehicle that allowed me to create things. With just limits in time and space I can create anything to my heart’s desire.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to sketch and ideate new things to create in my notebook. Some are personal like creating my own logo, but others are created for friends.
Some random ideas I had recently include visualizing Fitbark: Fitbit data for dogs and their owners, an app to provide cyclists with knowledge of bumpy road terrain, and using cryptocurrency to replace the dollar to give financial autonomy back for my country, El Salvador. I love thinking about creating things that would help people.
I also love dancing — specifically locking, which is a style of funk dancing to the tunes of James Brown. I also enjoy reading, hiking, cycling, and photography.
Who do you look up to and why?
I look up to my mom. She is the prime example of perseverance, someone with unlimited willpower. My mom came from a war-torn country and had to support all her siblings and her own family ever since childhood. From there, she was able to attend school, get her GED, study early childhood development at CCSF and is now an assistant teacher in the SF Unified School District. Despite all the stresses in her life, my mom has always been a very positive person. I’m super proud to say that my optimism and positivity is a result of her influence.
She is the “Queen of L’s but Maker of W’s.”
Final Thoughts?
For this semester in Blueprint, I’ve taken a great interest in pursuing design. This is special for me because I’ve always been interested in design, and now I have the opportunity to be a product designer! Through joining the weekly meetings with the Design Committee at Blueprint, I’ve been able to take lead and facilitate discussions on design with my team. It’s like designing a mini city!
I also want to give a few shout-outs: to my Blueprint teams, FSF and SJC, to the big three and the new Blueprint class, to my litto Erin who is always innovating, to Ethan who was the reason I applied at all, to Vanessa and Grant for always teaching me new things about design, and to my Blueprint fam for making this space an incredible place to be a part of.
