Itzel Ramirez Tapia has been going through life at 100 miles an hour for as long as she can remember. As a mother, first-generation college student and underrepresented minority, she’s used to defying stereotypes as a computer science major. “I later realized they used the same logic at a basic level that I learned in automata theory at UT Dallas. But the thought of ample job opportunities and being able to provide for her family drew her to computer science. “I got to do research on a real, tangible problem that’s directly tied to patient care,” Ramirez Tapia said.