Meet Lakshyana K.C. from Build Change, bringing new skills to solve societal problems
On this International Women in Engineering Day, learn about Lakshyana’s experience propelling a Call for Code team to new heights.
Women are often the unsung heroes of engineering. From Katie Moussouris — the first girl in her high school to take AP Computer Science that would later result in her creating and leading an esteemed cybersecurity company, or Kimberly Bryant — founder and CEO of Black Girls Code shepherding in a new generation of coders from under-served communities, women have made a distinct impact on where the world is, and where the world is going.
June 23, 2021 marks International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) — an important moment in time to raise awareness of the women in technology who are shaping the world, and an opportunity for other women around the world to feel empowered to follow suit.
Call for Code has a special role to play in this regard. Not only are participants exposed to industry-leading open hybrid cloud technologies to develop their skills, but they can see their idea turn into reality — leveraging the program and its ecosystem to build and deploy solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.
Through the years of the program, there have been substantial contributions made by women participants — from helping farmers navigate climate volatility to manage crops, to building a way for working parents to keep their children organized and on-task during remote learning. Among these top contributors is an inspiring woman technologist, Lakshyana K.C. — a member of the Build Change team from the 2018 Call for Code Global Challenge.
Lakshyana found herself at the intersection of technology and social good when she and her team, called PD3R, came in global runner-up. Profoundly influenced by the needs she saw following a 2015 earthquake in Nepal, Lakshyana and her teammates created a solution to enable families to immediately assess whether their damaged homes were candidates for structural strengthening. With support from IBM, Lakshyana and Build Change were able to evolve PD3R’s use of machine learning and image processing into a powerful new mobile app. This new tool, called ISAC-SIMO (Intelligent Supervision Assistant for Construction/ Sistema Inteligente de Monitoreo de Obra), provides immediate feedback on specific construction elements, such as rebar, to make sure they are safe to use. The app creates a way for homeowners, local officials, and builders to ensure homes are built to a resilient standard, especially in an era of increasing disasters. On June 10, 2021, the Linux Foundation announced that they would host ISAC-SIMO on their platform, allowing for open source contributions from around the world — a pivotal moment in the evolution of the technology.
The Call for Code team was able to catch up with Lakshyana and learn about her experience as not only a Call for Code participant, but as a woman in the technology industry:
What inspired you to get involved in Call for Code?
I was inspired to participate in the Call for Code challenge because it is a platform that enables developers around the world to work on globally relevant and pressing challenges of our time, while providing support to scale the solution and make a meaningful impact. With my passion to deploy technology for social impact and interest in exploring interdisciplinary solutions, it was a really exciting learning and skill-building opportunity.
Ensuring your Call for Code solution is delivered on time and meets submission requirements takes a high level of organization, team coordination, and a sound working model. How did the team approach this?
While developing our solution, each member of our team took full ownership of the detailed tasks assigned to them. However, we also had to remain flexible so we could adapt to any challenges that came up. We also adopted design thinking methodology while developing this tool and have been iteratively updating it with experimentation and better understanding of the challenges.
Was there a specific hurdle that you had to overcome during the build? When did the team feel like they “cracked the code” on this hurdle?
There were several challenges we had to overcome during the build, from tackling the lack of data, to designing the back-end to make ISAC-SIMO scalable and flexible to accommodate a variety of different projects. Through multiple trials and much experimentation, we were able to come up with an approach that works under our constraints, while also developing a flexible framework for deploying the tool. Apart from a standalone tool, ISAC-SIMO can also be integrated into third-party data collection tools such as Fulcrum and KoBoToolbox to allow ISAC-SIMO to be used as part of existing project workflows. While we have made significant progress from the start, we hope to continue innovating and improving our solution to take it to the next level.
What has been your experience working as a woman in the tech industry?
Working as a woman in the tech industry has been challenging yet rewarding so far. It has been a journey with a steep learning curve, and I’m often required to step out of my comfort zone to learn whatever new skill is demanded by the problem at hand. There have certainly been a lot of moments of self-doubt, but also some real mountaintops. Overall, it has been incredibly rewarding to tackle real-world challenges at the forefront of innovation.
Call for Code is your opportunity to build skills and save the planet. On this International Women in Engineering Day, be inspired by fellow technologists like Lakshyana and get involved in the largest tech for good initiative of its kind!
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