Coding for Community: A Conversation with Jasmine Murphy

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By Lau Guzmán

A Queens native, Tandon senior Jasmine Murphy has spent a lot of her life commuting. An alumna of St. Mary's College Prep High School in Manhasset, Long Island, Jasmine describes the school as “a wonderful place, four buses away, but a wonderful place.” So far, In her academic career, she has averaged a daily two-hour commute.

On these long commutes, Jasmine’s headphones have been a lifeline for her. “I realized I may be slightly addicted to my headphones,” she said. “But I think about it in perspective. It's like saying you're addicted to breathing air. It's not an addiction, it's a necessity.”

Jasmine’s headphones are almost one of her permanent features, as ever-present as her rectangle-frame glasses, beanie, and vibrant smile. She stands out from her nondescript Zoom background with vivid turns of phrase interspersed with witticisms, pop culture references, and explanations of quantum computing.

As a Computer Science major with a minor in Cybersecurity, Jasmine also stands out as a woman of color in an overwhelmingly white and male field. Even if approximately 40% of the student body of Tandon is women, twice as many as the national average, only 6.1 % of bachelor's degrees in engineering are awarded to women of color, according a 2019 statistic from the Society of Women Engineers

“It varies by department,” she said. “I don't really mind it so much,” she said. “I don't feel like I'm being singled out or attacked for it, it's more like, oh, there's just a lot of guys in the class, but they're cool, or very quiet. No one talks in class. I don't know why.”

During her time at St. Mary’s, Jasmine was interested in a career as a forensic scientist until she took part of several workshops with Girls Who Code and Black Girls CODE. These programs sparked an early interest in computer programming and Jasmine has since used her education at Tandon to pay it forward, volunteering regularly at Black Girls CODE.

“They've been one of the main organizations I did workshops with in high school and they just have wonderful people on staff,” she said.

Jasmine’s volunteer work in building community is an extension of her faith. “I see it as a great way to kind of act in my faith or do something to advance another person's life and invest in other kids,” she said.

As president of the Tandon Navigators, she is also involved in building community through running community events and outreach. “I get to see so many different perspectives and ways of life,” she said. “God did make a very diverse population of people in culture, in thought, and in how they see the world.”

When she graduates in December, the future seems wide open for Jasmine. However, she is not entirely sure what she wants to do next. Maybe she’ll take a break, but she definitely still wants to keep on building community. Perhaps she will get her dream job and join IBM’s quantum computing research center to develop the quantum computer, which is apparently only theoretical at the moment.

“I have not quite ascended to the level of the awesome hackers of lore and television like Mr. Robot,” she said. “But you know, everyone's got to start somewhere”

The pandemic has not been easy for anyone, but has been especially hard for community building. Despite the commute, Jasmine hopes to be back in-person before graduation to resume volunteering. “I can go back to connecting with people and helping people on a personal level, because those relationships are so incredible and beautiful to have,” she said.

Nevertheless, whether or not NYU will return to in-person classes in the fall and Black Girls CODE will resume in-person workshops, Jasmine remains passionate about working toward equitable access to information. “There is power in reading and acquiring information,” she said. “And if you don't like to read, it's alright because the Lord our God has provided you with audio books and YouTube.” She smiled, paused, waiting for the joke to land, and continued.

“The information is there with enough time to investigate with the diligence to pursue it more,” she said. “And if you don't find the answers you're looking for, maybe that's the area for you to step in and be the pioneer. Maybe that's for you to do that.”