Women in Technology: How Kiri Lenagh-Glue Found Her Place in Computer Science

Kiri Lenagh-Glue is a young Kiwi scientist who was born and raised in the US, and then returned to New Zealand for university, where she attended the prestigious University of Otago. Kiri has now graduated with a double-degree in Ancient History and Computer Science, but wasn’t until High School that she became passionate about Computer Science. 

Kiri’s path into STEM 

Kiri is proof that a good teacher can make the world of difference in a student’s life and direct their future path. At High School her Digital Technology teacher taught the class how to code and make their own websites. She made the class engaging and exciting and showed Kiri why Computer Science is so important. It inspired her to follow a path into STEM.   

At university, Kiri braced herself for a typical “boys’ club” environment, where she was the only girl. Fortunately, she found that wasn’t the case, at least initially. “I was prepared for the horror stories of ‘only boys’ in classes. I was impressed by how many girls were in class… although a lot of girls dropped out in the second year.” 

This inspired Kiri to team up with her female classmates and form a networking group. She had experienced the young men in her classes speaking over her and explaining things to her that she well knew (something colloquially termed “man-splaining”), and she wanted to encourage the other young women in her class to remain strong and lean on one another to get through the tough program. Kiri has learned to take much of it in stride.  

A challenging time at university

Kiri loved the challenges she was able to tackle at university, but that’s not to say they weren’t hard. She notes that the most difficult project was a coding project in her final year. “I had to tackle 14 computer science problems,” Kiri recalls, “I had to finish all 14 problems. It’s pass/fail. The class gets students to show off their skills- some problems require a group, two people, or just yourself.” This project required students to decipher complex mathematics, and Kiri remembers feeling immense relief when this challenge was over.

Advice for girls going into STEM

“The course you’ve picked is going to be really tough. Remind yourself you’re doing as well as your peers,” Kiri said. She also found that balancing your STEM classes with others that are more analytical or fun in nature helps. “Balance your classes with something that makes you think in a different way than STEM. Take a humanities course with your STEM degree. Take one less paper a semester and take up something you love.” 

Advice universities who want to encourage gender equality

Kiri’s university provided her with educational challenges, but she encountered social issues along the way, too. She noticed that the confidence level her female peers had was significantly lower than that of her male peers, and she thinks that this lack of self-belief comes much earlier than university. 

“I think this is probably an issue that [arises long] before university. [Universities need to do more to create] an educational environment where girls don’t feel like they’re present to represent their gender. The stakes should be personal and not representational. [But I do think] it begins in elementary school and high school.” 

“I think universities can be more accommodating to girls who want to start their own clubs,” she added, reflecting on the networking group she developed during her time at university. 

Kiri’s plans for the future

“I really love writing software – there’s so much freedom to be creative. Web development was so much fun [at university and you got] to be so creative in design,” Kiri said, but she’s thinking about moving into a career with a company with social betterment aims. 

“I found a really interesting company in the US that has openings. [They’re] called Codepath, which is an education and outreach organization for STEM. I’ve [also] been looking at [startups] in New Zealand. I want to be a part of a team that has a responsible outset.” 

Kiri is grateful that she has been given the skills she has and is determined to put them to good use over the course of her career, in a way that will better communities and the world at large.