Community Spotlight: Grace Pimentel
Celebrating 2025 - 2026 Fellow Grace Pimentel! Grace is Dominican and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She is majoring in Web and Mobile Computing with a minor in Creative Writing at Rochester Institute of Technology. She enjoys playing the ukulele, spending time with family and friends, and reading (especially poetry). She is a member of the Organization of African Students (OAS), the Caribbean Students Association, and the Latin American Student Association.
Grace is a highly determined, creative, and innovative technologist who is driven to create change with technology. As she says, "Even when things feel uncertain or overwhelming, I keep showing up, learning, and pushing forward with intention. Breaking down a complicated problem into feasible solutions makes nothing feel unreachable. Computer Science teaches patience, persistence, and structure. If you have the steps and the determination, you can reach your goal or something even better.”
Grace was inspired to pursue Computer Science by the strong women in her family and her inclination toward challenging conventional norms and creative problem solving. She describes coming to Computer Science, “I was a stubborn and rebellious kid growing up. When I was told girls should like pink, my favorite color became blue. When I was told computer science was a male-dominated major, I did not see a reason why I could not excel in it as well. I grew up surrounded by strong women who never had the opportunity to fully dedicate themselves to their education, often because they were caring for family or lacked access to higher education. Wanting to heal that gap, pushed me toward computer science. As I learned more about how Computer Science is more of an umbrella term and how much power it has to shape the world, I became more intentional about the kind of change I want to support and create through technology.”
Grace is excited by the possibilities of technological innovation and committed to using technology to improve people’s lives. As she says, “I love being able to just create and also have purpose in my creations. Right now, I’m especially interested in human-centered design (UX/UI), ethical design, and accessibility in software. I’m hoping to pursue a research opportunity focused on how thoughtful design can reduce barriers rather than reinforce them.”
Grace is hopeful about the future of technology and sees racial equity as critical to shaping a just technological future. As she shared, “technology in the hands of people who want to work on racial equity is a great thing! The future of tech evolves based on human needs. Just as convenience led to the development of AI and automation, racial equity should respond to the need to be seen, heard, and valued. It means creating technology that allows communities to grow and flourish without being excluded or overlooked. AI uses humans and people as information. It receives information, crunches it down, and then gives us an answer. I think the root is us, then the future is also us. We do need to use AI in a better way, so that it’s not destructive to the environment. I have a lot of hope for the future. If I see something that has power in our society right now, including AI, I definitely know that it’s possible people can use that for good. Knowing that makes me hopeful because I’m one of them, and I’ll lead the way.”
Grace encourages Black and Latinx CS majors and prospective fellows to, “invest in your identity as much as you invest in your studies. Your identity is the light you bring into spaces. Protect it, nurture it, and let it lead. Your identity is who you are, and is what makes you shine and stand out and be different. Don’t be afraid or feel forced to conform to fit into specific roles. Computer science and technology has so many roles. You can end up somewhere you never thought you’d be, so focus on who you are instead of what role you want to fit into.”
Thanks for being part of our community, Grace!