Coded Out: Race, Space, and Belonging in Computer Science
Primary Faculty Advisor
María José Plascencia Galindo
Publication Date
2026
Description / Abstract
Computer Science departments and tech communities are not neutral spaces. They are racialized and gendered places. This is built over time through deliberate decisions about who belongs, whose image gets centered, and whose discomfort gets ignored. Despite this, students of color do not simply endure these spaces. We build around them, beneath them, and away from them. We find or create urban anchors, places of belonging, mentorship, and cultural grounding; that the institution never offered us. Here, I follow that path, from my community college, where the journey began, to Bert's Bistro and the Multicultural Center, two spaces on USD's campus that have never felt like the engineering building, and have always felt like belonging.