Computer science is for everyone: new USask graduate

At the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Amanda Ewen found her path as a computer science researcher and a leader.

Ewen will be one of the top graduates in her cohort receiving a Bachelor of Science (high honours) in applied computing at this year’s USask Spring Convocation.

For her applied computing concentration, Ewen chose bioinformatics—a subject she had never heard of when she chose to enrol at USask’s College of Arts and Science.

“When I learned about bioinformatics, I thought it perfectly combined two of my interests—the biology side and the tech side,” said Ewen, who was raised in Saskatoon.

Ewen’s fascination with science and technology arose from her personal experiences with medical tech. She was born with a heart condition that requires her to use a pacemaker.

“Growing up, I had to get a bunch of ultrasounds of my heart. So that’s kind of where my interest in how technology can be combined with medicine really started.”

Ewen grew to be a student leader at USask. For the last two years, she has been president of the Computer Science Student Society, having previously served in two other executive roles with the group.

“I am actually terribly shy—or at least I was when I started university. And through so many warm and welcoming people (in the student society), I met my friends. I made connections with people in industry and with my professors. I got to practice public speaking and build my organizational skills and leadership,” she said.

During her studies, Ewen applied for and received several NSERC Undergraduate Research Awards that allowed her to spend four summers doing research in the labs of Department of Computer Science faculty members Dr. Lingling Jin (PhD) and Dr. Ian Stavness (PhD).

Most of Ewen’s work has focused on plant image analysis. Jin and Stavness’s team is developing a platform that uses machine learning and imaging technology to study plant health. Ewen is back in the USask Biomedical and Interactive Graphics Lab (BIG Lab) this summer helping build tools to analyze time-lapse photos of diseased plants to improve our understanding of how these diseases progress, especially in wheat.

“I feel like my work is having a true impact on people. We’re designing a system to make plant scientists’ lives a bit easier so they can track their plants, and ultimately that is contributing to food security and disease studies. And that’s very important to me,” Ewen said.

The USask student has already presented her research at several conferences. At the annual Symposium on Innovations in Computer Science and Applied Computing held at USask last summer, Ewen was one of three winners of the Women in Computer Science Award.

Since choosing an applied computing major, Ewen has sought out women mentors such as Jin and tried to advocate for women in the field.

“Growing up, part of me was always like, ‘Science is for boys,’ but at the same time, I knew I was really interested in it. And so as I got older, I grew out of that mindset,” she said.

One of Ewen’s most transformative experiences was attending the Canadian Celebration of Women in Computing Conference at York University in 2024.

“That was such an amazing experience to meet so many girls and women who are interested in all the same things I am, and who were just so smart and so nice. It was such an inspiring and fun time,” she said.

Ewen has worked hard to make the Computer Science Student Society a welcoming place for everyone. One of her greatest achievements as a student leader was rebuilding the group’s membership after the COVID pandemic. Ewen helped launch new outreach activities, including an annual Women in STEM event.

“I’m very proud of the work I did with (the society) and very happy with where it’s at now. I know it’s in good hands and everything’s going to go great,” she said.

This fall, Ewen will begin a USask master’s program in computer science where she will continue working on plant imaging research under the co-supervision of Stavness and Jin.

“I’ve really enjoyed all my research experiences throughout the summer, so I really want to keep doing it,” Ewen said.