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Rhonda Hoenigman is the associate dean for undergraduate education for the College of Engineering and Applied Science and a computer science senior instructor at CU Boulder. No one would ever guess her undergraduate degree is in journalism. 

Learning programming on her own with little experience beforehand, Hoenigman’s journey in engineering began through self-teaching powered by curiosity. Eventually, she obtained her first job in the tech industry and moved from job to job until she strived for more, going back to get a master’s degree in computer science. 

During this time, she worked on a side project to model food waste. Her research showed that the amount of food thrown away each day is enough to feed everyone who goes hungry in Boulder and Broomfield County. This discovery paved the way for Boulder Food Rescue with her co-author on the founding team in 2011. 

Superseding her plan to go back to the industry, she unexpectedly found a calling to teach young engineers. Marie Roach, Hoenigman’s master’s advisor, could take something so complicated and make it so simple, she said. Hoenigman realized that what Roach was doing—helping engineers explore and learn about themselves and the world—was so much more interesting than industry. Teaching focused on a completely different mission than industry, held mental and intellectual freedom that industry didn’t.

As a woman in STEM, Hoenigman said she feels the pressure put on women to be 100% correct before they speak their opinion. Whether it comes from oneself or from social constructs, the true source of this hardship is unknown, but it enacts a call to action for women’s silence to be denied. In the words of Melinda Gates, “a woman with a voice is by definition, a strong woman.” 

Resonating with many graduating seniors entering a world different from the one expected, Hoenigman said she would advise her younger self to keep going, and it’s OK not to have everything figured out right now. Someday, that will change. 

When looking toward the future of engineering and at CU Boulder, Hoenigman said she believes that CU Boulder will be a school that educates the whole person, developing the technical side as well as the human side. Thus, CU Boulder graduates will not only be the best engineers but also the best people. 

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My name is Cathleen Samson. I am a senior studying computer science with a minor in business. I am co-president of CU Women in Computing and vice president of CU Boulder’s Engineering Council. I chose Rhonda Hoenigman because she’s been an inspiration to me since I took her Algorithms class. Echoing Hoenigman’s sentiments about her mentor, I believe Rhonda was able to take such a complex and important topic like Algorithms and make it easy to understand for her students.