Ana Vizitiv and Madalina Griza are students in the 11th grade and are passionate about information technologies. Because they want to bring changes in society and, through IT, to facilitate and improve community life, the girls have completed a project “Augmenting Under-Researched Medical Domains with an Intuitive Querying System on Resourceful Crowd-Collected Data” aimed at facilitate information on Covid-19 in the context of the global pandemic crisis. The idea brought them the special Oracle Academy prize, worth USD 5,000, at the Regeneron ISEF 2021 International Science and Engineering Fair, “System Software” category. Participation was possible thanks to the support of the Tekwill project, which supports women’s empowerment and offers opportunities for them to develop their IT skills.
Ana Chirita, ATIC Strategic Projects Director: “In recent years, the IT sector has registered a dizzying growth, which has led to an increase in export volume, but also the demand for new qualified specialists. Through the prism of our activities, we believe in equal opportunities and in the creation of equal opportunities, therefore, we want to offer opportunities to girls and women so that they can be found in any position. That is why we encourage girls and women to develop their IT skills because this will allow them to open new doors and therefore contribute to the development of the national economy. ”
USD 5,000 for IT knowledge
A few years ago, Ana Vizitiv’s brother together with a project colleague participated in the Regeneron ISEF International Science and Engineering Fair. Enthusiastic about the experience she gained, last year she decided to participate in the national stage “Molda SEF”, where she took 2nd place. Unfortunately, only the 1st place winners are chosen to represent the country at ISEF, but this did not discourage her, on the contrary, this year, having an innovative idea, she entered the competition together with Madalina Griza.
Madalina Griza, winner of the competition: “Our project is related to data analysis and processing, in terms of articles / comments from online health blogs, to be easier to analyse and more practical to use for users. Thus, in the context of the pandemic, even if there is a lot of information related to Covid-19, combining experiences, opinions, posts, conclusions of an impressive number of people, we set out to help them be as informed as possible. As a final product, we have built a system that, once you have introduced a certain problem / question, the algorithm returns a series of similar situations, maybe even solutions but also experiences of the same kind. ”
The girls say that this is not the first time they participate in competitions in the field of information technologies. Each time, the competitions come with a lot of experience, new knowledge, possibilities and many opportunities.
Ana Vizitiv, the winner of the competition: “This competition was special. Why? Because at ISEF we had the opportunity to communicate with representatives from Microsoft, for example, where we were invited to participate in international summer camps, exchange of experience and guidance to continue our work and studies in this field. “
Today’s studies are tomorrow's successes
The winners say that, in order to obtain more knowledge in the field, it is important that students from school are actively involved in extra-curricular activities, courses, competitions, exchanges of experience, etc. Cumulatively, they develop personality and influence choice in making career decisions.
Madalina Griza, the winner of the contest: “I think that the school period is the right time to explore great interests and possibilities, to determine which of them we like or which could mean a future career. For students who already know what they want to do in the future, it is the right time to strengthen their knowledge and strengthen their skills, and for those who are undecided - to find new activities they like. ”
The two students say that they are passionate about mathematics and computer science, and IT is the field in which they would like to continue their studies. Moreover, both Madalina and Ana are convinced that information technologies are more current than ever and the professions related to this field will continue to be in high demand.
Madalina Griza, the winner of the contest: “I believe that technologies will be much more integrated in everyday life, but I want to believe that we will find a balance between real life and the virtual world. Obviously, I would like the IT field to continue to solve many other problems in everyday life, to help the development of society in general. From my experience and belief, the IT industry is full of interesting things, problems that require bright minds, open and prone to change. I urge you to continue your work, your education and never give up. ”
Ana Vizitiv, the winner of the contest: “Don't be afraid to apply the knowledge you have. In the beginning, Google was also an idea. Do you see how it has changed now? I am convinced that IT will continue to advance and produce phenomenal changes in the world economy, and each of us can participate in this change! ”
The Regeneron ISEF 2021 International Science and Engineering Competition took place in May 2021 and brought together approximately 1,900 students from 65 countries around the world. The Republic of Moldova was represented by two teams, finalists of the National Competition of Sciences and Engineering “Molda SEF” 2021, which were delegated to the international stage with the support of the Association of ICT Companies (ATIC) and the Agency on Intellectual Property.
