ESU Senior Finds her Passion in Computer Science

Posted by: admin on September 1, 2015, 2 Comments

Lindsay Kemmlein thought she wanted to be a teacher. She took all the right steps: earned her bachelor’s degree from Temple University, and headed for the classroom.

Waking up every day to stand in front of a class of students, Kemmlein realized how wrong she was.

A year later, Kemmlein, enrolled at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania as a computer science major.

“I knew that I wanted to do something that was more fitting to my personality,” she said. “I’m a quiet person, so standing in front of a class is sometimes difficult for me.”

It was an easy decision to go after a competitive field with a wide variety of opportunities after graduation. Working in computer programming, Kemmlein loves to solve problems.

“There’s something so satisfying about going from a blank screen to a functioning program,” she said. “I really love working through those puzzles.”

Now a senior, Kemmlein wrapped up an internship where she helped solve problems at Lockheed Martin, an American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company with branches around the country.

During this internship, she was responsible for debugging, reading documentation, troubleshooting, running code and basic vulnerability analysis. She played a role in a team whose responsibilities included creating better methods for computer security.

The company liked what they saw and offered Kemmlein a full-time job post-graduation. But landing the internship wasn’t an easy task.

Kemmlein put in six resumes just with Lockheed before earning a spot. She credits her success in the internship to doing her homework at ESU.

A group of computer science majors on campus grab their laptops and run up to the third floor of the Science and Technology Center to study and work on assignments together every day after classes.

“It helps having people to bounce ideas off of,” she said. “The people in our major are open to helping answer questions if they understand something that you might not.”

As she prepares to leave ESU behind, Kemmlein feels she found a new form of independence through her work.

“Being able to go to school a second time and push myself in a field that is male dominated, I feel like I’ve found my passion and I’m more ready than I ever was,” she said.

Kemmlein admits that she is usually the only girl in the classes required for her major. She hopes to continue to see an increase in females in the field.

“I want to tell them that it’s not so bad,” she said. “People are extremely helpful, and I’ve never been treated any different from my male classmates.”

Kemmlein is set to graduate from ESU in December 2015.