Student Profile: Jennifer Kashani Motlagh
Major: GIS with Computer Science minor
Year: 4th Year (Nontraditional)
Hometown: born in Spokane, WA; but grew up in Iran
Jennifer Kashani Motlagh is a nontraditional student returning to school after working in a variety of industries, including real estate, worker’s compensation insurance, medical practice management, and online retail. She decided to come back to Ohio State after one of her sons grew tired of answering her questions about his computer programming studies. “Why don’t you study it for yourself, Mom?” she recounted with a laugh. “So I thought, why not?” After starting to take computer science classes, she connected with Jocelyn Nevel, one of the advisors in the Department of Geography, who pointed her towards GIS classes, which also included computer programming but offered some interesting career avenues for her.
She started taking courses as a part-time student and knew quickly that she would have to adjust to the intense learning curve in a new discipline. “Ultimately, if I wanted to learn these new ideas properly, I’d have to use the resources available to me in every class and from every professor,” she said. She went to office hours and always asked questions any time she didn’t understand an idea. She speaks highly of all her professors who were always available to help. When she wanted to look for student work, her professors knew her and were able to write letters of recommendation which helped her land a job at the Byrd Polar Research Center on campus. She loves her current work, and enjoys the challenges it provides as well as the chance to work with educated people working to solve challenging problems.
When asked what advice she’d give to future students, she highlighted the importance of internships in making coursework applicable to real-world problems. She said that many of her courses encouraged her to work outside of her comfort zone but that her willingness to ask questions and connect with professors and fellow students helped prepare her for success. She also encouraged students to connect as much as possible with their network of peers and professors. During her time in the department, she joined a group of students in the Geography department, WACK (Women Are Creating Knowledge), which was great for bonding. “Everyone could share what we were working on, what goals we had, and people could offer support and share resources.” She mentioned that she got her fist internship through a connection in this group.
If she could go anywhere in the world, she’d love to go back to Germany and Switzerland, where she previously studied. “I wish I could go back and immerse myself further in the culture there,” she said, particularly with her new knowledge in geography and GIS.
Find out more about the GIS major or the Computer Science minor.
Image caption: Meeting of WACK (Woman Are Creating Knowledge) Images courtesy of Jennifer Kashani Motlagh