For iSchool students attending their first major computing conference this past fall, the CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference could have felt overwhelming. With more than 1,000 attendees gathered in Dallas, the event was sizable by any measure. But even within the large convention center, students found opportunities for connection and hands-on learning.
Inspired by the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference, the Tapia Conference was founded a quarter century ago to bring together students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities. It is named after mathematician Richard A. Tapia, the first Hispanic elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
For Lissette Mitzi Mendez ’26 of New Jersey, the trip was her first foray into Texas and the world of conferences. The information management and technology major with a minor in finance had first heard about the opportunity from iSchool Career Services and was selected and funded to attend. “I was excited to network with students from different colleges but also gain experience from professionals already in a full-time position,” she said.
Among more than 75 panels, workshops, tech talks, and birds-of-a-feather sessions with over 150 speakers, a resume workshop stood out to Mitzi Mendez. In facilitated review sessions, students received feedback on how to better represent themselves to potential employers. “I felt that this captured the spirit of the conference because while there were many people there, they were able to make sure a lot of the activities were in a smaller group, allowing me to build stronger connections,” she said.
Those relationships extended beyond the workshop, as Mitzi Mendez also met other students from the iSchool, further expanding her network within the Syracuse University community.
Another iSchool student in attendance was Alexandra Miller-Thomas ’26, an applied data analytics major with minors in marketing and art history. At first, she’d been hesitant to take time away from a busy semester, but as a senior she saw the gathering as an opportunity she might not have again.
Having been adopted from Kazakhstan and raised by two moms in Detroit, she was especially attracted to the conference’s emphasis on representation. “There’s not a lot of celebration of diversity, equity and inclusion at such a large scale,” she said.
One session that strongly resonated with Miller-Thomas focused on entrepreneurship. She appreciated hearing women speak candidly about both success and failure. “Highlighting that sometimes projects don’t work out, but you just have to keep going—and that if you believe enough in your idea, you can make it come true—that was really powerful,” she said.
Thanks to such conversations, big and small, the students left the conference bolstered in their plans for the future. “One of the biggest things I took away was becoming more interested in going to grad school, something I had never really thought about until I attended the Tapia Conference,” said Mitzi Mendez, who is currently interning with the Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group and plans to transition to a full-time position with the same employer after graduation. Miller-Thomas will also move from an internship with specialty insurance company H.W. Kaufman Group to a full-time role in business analytics.
Both now see themselves as part of the larger Tapia community and hope to return to the conference in the future.