From Olympiads to MIT: Urmi’s journey led by curiosity

Curiosity was never a shortfall in the home that Tamanna Islam Urmi grew up in. She always asked questions, perhaps 'annoyingly' so, in her own words. Her father nurtured and indulged her inquisitive tendencies, and eventually, her stubbornness to satiate her ever-intrigued mind led her to a journey across the world - one she never expected to take. 

A rare, brilliant, female Bangladeshi mind in the world of STEM was the eventual result of this journey. Urmi is a data scientist, currently working for the Indonesian super-app - Gojek, and undertakes many other projects, such as the COVID-19 Dashboard for Public Office in Bangladesh. She is also a leader in charge of the integration of more young Bangladeshi women in STEM. 

When she is not crunching numbers, Urmi likes to sing and was a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's South Asian Acapella group. She also plays the harmonium, ukulele, and guitar. 

Urmi grew up in the suburbs of Dinajpur, a district where the majority of the population is bereft of opulence. Her father knew that his daughter would make a name for herself, but it was not until Urmi reached middle school that her teachers realised she was special. 

"My teachers recognised that I have a knack for math and physics. My physics teacher got me interested in applying for the Math Olympiad and similar competitions," said Urmi.

It was a stroke of luck, and determination from a dedicated teacher that started her journey towards the immense heights she would find herself in later on in life. 

Math olympiad--the first step

"One of my first teachers registered me for the Math Olympiad around 2007. At that time, from each school, there was a limited number of seats that were reserved for students who could actually register. I remember that our school reached a limit and my physics teacher actually pushed the limit to make sure that I got registered as well." 

Urmi's participation in the National Math Olympiad placed a stepping stone in her path to an upper echelon. 

"When I got into the Math Olympiad community, a ceiling sort of broke, the kind of things I could reach became much broader to me. I could imagine that these are the things that are now within my reach," said Urmi. 

Her curiosity at first was thought of as uncircumventable, but later, was appreciated, and finally, lauded. 

"In 2008, I got a prize for asking the most interesting question at the Math Olympiad. That was encouraging for me, and after that, I kept asking questions, always," she said.  

Eventually, Urmi decided to move to Dhaka to complete her A-levels. Independence, something she would learn later on, as a consequence of her curiosity - in her final year of secondary studies, she lived in Dhaka without her family. The capital was a world apart from her hometown in Dinajpur, but it was a necessary step for the next part of her journey.

MIT and culture shock

Her decision to apply to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was a 'leap of faith' encouraged by her mentor Mahbub Majumder. 

Shammi Quddus, who is currently a product manager at Google, was the MIT alumnus that conducted Urmi's admission interview.

Quddus was blown away by Urmi's "indomitable spirit and independence."

"I remember an incredibly confident and poised young woman. She did not grow up in Dhaka, but would travel to the capital for competitions and camps which is quite rare for girls in our country," said Quddus.

Quddus remarked that Urmi's natural curiosity was evident during the interview. 

"She did not know what she would study at MIT but only that she loved science and math. That curiosity would make her a natural fit at MIT, I had no doubt. I was right, she explored many interesting classes and extracurriculars such as taking MIT's Development Lab engineering classes and singing for the South Asian Acapella group," said Quddus. 

Urmi's move to the United States fostered her inherent curiosity and bolstered her already independent lifestyle. She was no stranger to living alone in a new city, as she had done during the later stages of her secondary education. But if Dhaka was a world apart from Dinajpur, then Cambridge was a universe apart. 

"I was ready for that kind of rigor academically, but it was the cultural elements. I had no idea how to make friends. I had no idea how to find pop references to make conversation," Urmi said. 

"I did not know what brownies were. So I did not know why people got so excited about getting free brownies," she said. "Those things are not relatable for me at all, and that was a culture shock for me. The things that you need in order to relate to the other person to be friends with them." 

Urmi eventually found a comfortable group with fellow South Asians at MIT, and after four years of academic rigor, freezing weather, and culture shocks, Urmi graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. 

Pursuing the field of data science 

After her graduation, she pursued further research alongside one of her professors and returned to Bangladesh in the summer of 2017. She spent a few years using her background in mechanical engineering, working for SOLshare, a company that specialises in bringing affordable solar energy across Bangladesh. 

After SOLshare, Urmi decided to make the switch from mechanical engineering to data science, with her current employers at Gojek. At Gojek, Urmi works as a data scientist creating various models in the fraud detection department of their food delivery system. 

"There are often people who fake an identity or try to bypass some of the security measures to make money or otherwise, which causes a loss to the business," she said.

Some of Urmi's other research projects into the education sector look specifically at young girls, and "how people learn and how gender plays a role in the dynamics of education."

"That is one of my passions and I am continuing research, looking into other reasons related to the gender gap in the education sector in Bangladesh," she said. "Sometimes organisations try different initiatives. So we are still kind of trying to understand that, how can we scale up whatever solution we are thinking of, and actually increase the number of girls in various aspects of academic affairs." 

Urmi not only contributes to researching the gender gap in Bangladeshi STEM academics but contributes to combating it as well. 

"I started this small initiative with one of my friends. We had started this Facebook page called Journeys in Tech, where we wanted to bring out female role models in STEM, and bring out their life stories, not just the technological work they do, but also who they are as people. 

"We wanted to tell those stories because we thought that there was a role model gender gap, people did not know that you could just be who you are, whoever you are, and pursue a career in STEM," said Urmi.

She continues to be an outspoken advocate for young Bangladeshi women in STEM. She wants to delve even further into policy-making research and combine STEM with policy-making. She also plans to return to Massachusetts for a graduate degree at the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University. 

"It is very clear to me that governments require people like us who are in data science or who have a very analytical way of looking at the world," mentioned Urmi.

Urmi's journey, which started simply with curiosity, has led to her being an example for Bangladeshi women in STEM. Her inquisitiveness is something that cannot be diminished - it continues to grow, along with her ambition.