Zoya Hussain
🌱

Zoya Hussain

Developer in Dallas, Texas, She/Her

astra inclinant, sed non obligant • looking to learn and explore :)

2 months ago

About

Hey there 👋 I'm Zoya, a 17 year old interested in the development of human-centered software and interfaces. I love exploring the intersection between the humanities and STEM, from ethics and policy to technology and neuroscience.

Currently, I'm working on increasing AI ethics literacy @ Encode Justice, introducing teenagers to a community of worldwide hackers @ Hack Club, and learning about the scope of neuroscience research @ Stanford.

Education

2021 — Now
High School Degree at Great Hearts Irving
Irving, Texas

Receiving a liberal arts education from a classical charter school. Maintaining a 3.9UW/4.7W grade-point average, and currently taking Honors Calculus, Honors Spanish III, Humane Letters: Ancient Greek Literature and History, Studio Art/Drama, and Honors Physics.

  • Newspaper publication writer and editor, working with peers to create inclusive and thought-provoking magazine issues

  • Student body representative, leading my peers as an ambassador and event coordinator

  • Founding chairperson for the Alpha Delta Omega STEM society, campus' first after-school STEM-based opportunity to meet industry professionals and increase depth of inquiry in applications of scientific research and academia

  • Working with Master Teacher to help organize and create science labs for underclassmen

2023 — Now
AI Certification at Coding School, Department of Defense
Remote

Selected to partake in two-semester, for-credit course on AI and intersectional applications, where we:

  • Learn about ML Algorithms (KNN and k-means clustering), data visualizations, Reinforcement Learning, Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing (NLP)

  • Work on capstone projects for national military labs

2023 — Now
Remote

Selected to participate in a Neuroscience Journal Program at Stanford University, where I learned about current advances in Neuroscience and research techniques from Stanford faculty members.

Work Experience

2023 — 2023
Shelburne, VT

Worked with a team of high-school and gap-year students to organize large-scale seasonal events, including:

  • Outernet, a 4-day experimental coding/camping trip, bringing 200 high-schoolers together, working on event design, marketing, and storytelling.

  • Days-of-Service, an initiative partnering with Girl Scouts to bring coding experiences to underserved communities. Working on four hackathons with 100+ total attendees, including design, workshop development, and mentorship.

2019 — 2023
Tutor, Data Entry Specialist at Kumon Education
Irving, Texas

I worked as a Math and English Instructor at Kumon, where I:

  • Taught 250+ regular students fundamental math concepts, ranging from addition/subtraction to Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry. Also mentored in English concepts, from grammar to comprehension in classical literature.

  • Scheduled assessments for students and created curated lesson plans depending on student performance.

  • Trained for data-entry specialization, tabulated student performance in center-specific database.

Volunteering

2024 — Now
Remote
  • Developing youth-based initiatives for accessible computer science education with 5,000+ program participants and 5,000,000+ impressions.

  • Facilitating partnerships with youth-based organizations and career professionals.

2023 — Now
Texas, USA

Founded a statewide organization with Encode Justice, the world's largest network of youth mobilized for creating human-centered AI. With our efforts, our team of high-school and undergraduate students is actively:

  • Lobbying with politicians statewide to ensure that technology is compatible with democratic values; discussed implementation of C-COPS legislature created by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) with city council members and mayors.

  • Partnering with youth-led organizations for large-scale events and social media collaborations

  • Providing AI Ethics education workshops for several school districts, colleges, and congressmen, and organizing workshops, summits, and "learnathons" for 1000's of students statewide

  • Researching intrinsic biases in popular LLMs (large-language models)

2020 — 2023
Campaign Coordinator at American Red Cross
Texas, USA

Worked region-wide to implement and oversee 3 campaign cycles (2020-'21, 2021-'22, 2022-'23) for IHL YAC's (International Humanitarian Law Youth Action Campaigns). In the process, we:

  • Garnered 10,000+ unique participants throughout duration of campaigns

  • Advocated for children's access to education in warring countries, the protection of cultural property, and environmental impacts of warfare

  • Developed campaign websites to direct participants to educational resources and promote campaign messages

  • Held events with school districts, local businesses, museums, and youth organizations

  • (Coordinator-specific) Trained 150+ regional volunteers in an introduction to youth activism and campaign strategy, and supervised 12 region-wide campaign teams

2021 — 2022
Internship Coordinator at International Internship Program
Remote

Led a team of 15 high-school and undergraduate students on a year-long advocacy campaign, where we:

  • Advocated for women's education rights in Nigeria to communities impacted by poverty, corruption, and lack of resources

  • Created official censuses in consultation with human rights agencies to survey communities on sentiments surrounding education

  • Organized and performed workshops demonstrating the importance of diverse perspectives in education

Projects

2024
  • Novel, patent-pending metric for biometrically-secure ID development in developing countries

  • Conrad Innovation Finalist: Chosen as 1 of 5 in Cyber-Technology & Security to present innovation at NASA for patent and start-up support

2022
GenGreen

Worked in a team to create a web-app for promoting environmental activism for youth. In the process, we:

  • Used React and TailwindCSS to create a front-end application, and MySQL and Python (data science libraries: NumPy, Matplotlib, Scikit-learn) to create databases and data visualizations

  • Compiled over 100 volunteer opportunities for local youth to get involved with climate activism in school clubs and organizations

  • Worked with local volunteer organizations to educate citizens about sustainability

2021
Productivity Application

Worked with a team to develop an iOS app designed for students with neurodivergencies. In the process, we:

  • Implemented time-tracking features with Pomodoro and flow-time techniques

  • Included features for journaling and mindfulness

  • Incorporated an ADHD-friendly user interface for frill-free, feature-driven use

  • Received commendation from Congressman Van Taylor for efforts in STEM and activism

Awards

2024
Gold Award from Girl Scouts

Receives Gold Award for community contributions in technology, the highest accolade earned by <6% of Girl Scouts.

2022
Invitation to Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's Youth Summit from Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

Invited to youth summit on diverse dialogues alongside 50 local youth, where I:

  • Learned about diverse pluralistic perspectives and equity

  • Proposed and planned a community initiative with local libraries and school districts to the congresswoman and city council members

2022
Aspirations in Computing Award from NCWIT

Honored by National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) for aspirations in computer science