Community Spotlight: Vardaan Kapoor
Celebrating 2024-2025 Fellow Vardaan Kapoor. Vardaan is majoring in Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Vardaan is also the President of AI@UW Artificial Intelligence Club and UX Club. He is a highly inquisitive technologist, driven by his love of problem-solving and desire to use technology to produce change. Vardaan loves “seeing the world with open eyes and trying to figure out how to make it better.”
Vardaan was encouraged to start coding by his parents at an early age. “When I was in sixth grade, my parents taught me how to code using Java directly. I used to watch YouTube videos, and my elder sister would help me problem solve. That’s how I initially learned to write code.” Reflecting on growing up in an educationally focused family, Vardaan recalls, “I grew up with curiosity and open-mindedness being valued. I was encouraged to think broadly, to consider big questions, dig deep into problems, and try to see how to be a part of something good.”
Vardaan brings his passion for creative solutions and collaboration into his approach to technology, finding joy in the “ah-ha moments” of coding. He shares, “Tech has the power to actually solve very different and very difficult kinds of problems. I enjoy being in that kind of problem solving, where everyone is stuck and working together towards a particular goal. Tech takes problems and curates them, so that solutions can emerge, streamlining the process, and then that leads to coding. I love it when you hit the run button, and it magically runs the code and gives the response I’ve been striving toward. The ah-ha moment where code works after hours of debugging, brain-storming, and transforming information into code.”
Vardaan is excited by the possibilities of technological innovation, “there are so many cutting fields in tech. Right now, I research the ways you can bring together the fields of automation and database management. I’m interested in creating intelligent database management systems.” For Vardaan, racial equity is key to advancing tech toward positive change. He reflects, “racial equity is about creating a tech industry where people from all racial backgrounds can thrive, and where you have all kinds of people in all levels of roles, from entry level to leadership. Racial equity means that opportunities, resources, and respect are mutually shared.”
Vardaan encourages prospective Fellows to, “Apply, just apply! Code2040 is a vibrant supportive community that will value your unique perspective. Everyone here is ready to support you. It’s not just about tech; it’s about racial equity as well. Code2040 is about garnering your skills and giving you the proper resources so that you can grow and can have influence in the industry. For anyone who is thinking about applying, keep watching for the application to open and apply on day one. This is an opportunity that no one should miss. This is a really good community and people who are selected are given a lot of resources.”
Thanks for being part of our community, Vardaan!