The “Her Stories: Adventures in STEM” blog series is a collection of stories about 20 women in science and engineering fields, written by members of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Pre-College Working Group.
These inspiring women have experienced a variety of life experiences and career paths, and these stories and accompanying artwork help to capture the vast diversity of our featured scientists and engineers.
We hope this series will show you how exciting engineering and science can be and help you realize that anyone can choose to become a scientist or an engineer.
Story by Tuyet-Hanh Schnell
Madalyn Nguyen is a second-generation Vietnamese American studying computer science. Growing up in San Diego, California, she expected to go to a college in California. However, she made the bold move to travel across the U.S. to study in Massachusetts when she received a FIRST Community Scholarship from the college.
Madalyn was born and raised in the greater San Diego area. Her parents encouraged her to have different experiences, so she played soccer, golf, and chess as a child. Even though she enjoyed these activities, it wasn’t until she joined a robotics team that she began to realize her true passion.
She loved to play with Lego bricks growing up, so she joined FIRST Lego League robotics in sixth grade. FIRST is an international robotics community for students in elementary and secondary school that helps them explore design, engineering, teamwork, and creativity.
That first year, Madalyn had a hard time getting along with her team members and learned an important lesson: team members need to collaborate for the team to do well. She learned that these soft skills were as important as technical knowledge.
Although Madalyn’s parents were not engineers, they encouraged her to take technical and hands-on courses in middle school such as woodshop, video editing, and coding.
Taking these courses led Madalyn to choosing to attend a technology secondary school, Poway High School, because it had the Project Lead The Way program. This special engineering-focused program provides students an environment for problem-solving while looking at ways to solve real-world challenges. Students in this program also earn college credits while still in high school.
Madalyn learned about the SWENext program, which provides opportunities for kids to learn about STEM, and joined when she was in seventh grade. Madalyn set out to create a SWENext club at Poway High School to give other girls the same opportunities that she had to pursue their passion for STEM.
She was motivated to create this club because she did not see a lot of female representation in the engineering field. Within the club’s first year, Madalyn was able to recruit around 20 members; the club is still going strong today. Her active participation in SWENext led to her receiving the SWENext Global Innovator Award in 2021.
Madalyn was also interviewed by BootUp, an organization dedicated to creating equity for underrepresented and underserved teachers and students through computer science. In this video, she shared her love of STEM and how she hopes to impact those career areas to make them more inclusive:
Madalyn continued her love of robotics and joined the FIRST Robotics team at her high school. She loved the challenge of designing and building a robot each year to perform a specific set of tasks for competition.
One of her most difficult obstacles, however, occurred when a teacher and mentor told her that she did not belong in robotics. Although she was one of the 10 FIRST Dean’s List Winners in 2020 from over 3,400 nominations around the world, she decided to leave the team during her senior year. Madalyn realized that she was not going to grow in that environment. This experience taught her skills to navigate difficult situations in order to reach her goals. She learned that she should not let others try to limit her potential.
Madalyn focused her attention on her schoolwork, taking an Advanced Placement Computer Science course. She found this subject difficult, so she spent 15 hours a week self-studying and learning on her own. Her hard work paid off as she received a score of 4 out of 5 on the exam.
With this new belief in herself, Madalyn graduated from high school and entered Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to study computer science on a full scholarship. At WPI, Madalyn continued with SWE as a collegiate member. While in college, she had to combat imposter syndrome, but used the confidence she gained while doing robotics to be brave, raise her hand in class, and speak up to share her thoughts and ideas.
With SWE, she found new mentors like safety engineer Justina Sanchez, whom she met during her first SWE event. She helped Madalyn get her first summer internship as a test technician, where she supported quality engineers by testing products so that they are good for consumers to use.
Madalyn continued to expand her network and landed another internship the following summer at Northrop Grumman as a part of the aeronautical systems team. In this role, Madalyn helped to create software that detects anomalies in the electronic data processing systems so that they can be addressed. She also had an internship at the United States Golf Association and learned about how engineering applies to golf – a full circle moment as she is a long-time golfer.
Although Madalyn is still early in her engineering career, she has already had many opportunities to learn and grow. She wants students to know that if they want internships, they should reach out to their network and get that experience. Opportunities are there for those who seek them.
As she prepares to graduate this May with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, a minor in writing and rhetoric, and a master’s degree in computer science, Madalyn’s journey offers a reminder that growth in STEM is rarely linear — and that confidence is built through experience.
Related Reading: Sisters in STEM and SWE: Abigail and Madalyn Nguyen
The “Her Stories: Adventures in STEM” series is a collection of stories about 20 women in science and engineering fields, written by members of the SWE Pre-College Working Group. Dive into the rest of the series here!
Know a pre-college kid interested in STEM? Join SWENext, the Society’s free program that allows students ages 5 through 18 to join the SWE engineering and technology community.
SWENexters enjoy numerous opportunities throughout the year to learn, network, and connect with peers, role models, and industry professionals. Plus, this diverse, welcoming, pre-college STEM community provides a safe place where kids can feel seen, heard, and validated. SWENext is open to all genders.
