Lydia Manikonda

Jonathan Bartlett

Computer scientist, Troy, New York

When Lydia Manikonda was accepted into a PhD program, her church community in rural India asked, “Why does a woman need to study that much instead of getting married and raising children?” Most of her friends were married at 18 or 20 years old. She was the only woman approaching 30 still in school and not married.

Her parents were split on whether this was the right path for her. Her mom “always told me and still tells me that women should stand on their own feet even though they are married, which was kind of a different message than I heard growing up in my ultraconservative church,” Manikonda said.

Jonathan Bartlett

Today, she works with artificial intelligence and machine learning, using data-driven decision-making on social media platforms to understand people’s offline behavior, particularly related to mental health, obesity, or addictions.

She sees the technology field changing as women break barriers, while at the same time, computer scientists work to address biases in algorithms that harm underrepresented people. “I believe that this is just the beginning, but I am very excited to be in the world right now to experience and see how things are changing,” she said.

Manikonda is still riding the excitement of finishing her dissertation last spring. It wasn’t easy being the only female in the lab, she said. To create a support system, she reached out to other women in computer science and created a network of encouragement. She also finished as a new mom, though she entertained thoughts of quitting at times. Today, she is a tenure-track assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Also in this series

Also in this issue

This month’s cover story examines the power of communal confession to heal the church’s—and society’s—deepest divisions. But pastor and writer Jeff Peabody doesn’t point to the early church or to liturgical traditions as the model for how we should pray; he turns to the famous ancient prayer of Daniel at the end of Israel’s long Babylonian exile. The prayer upends our typical notions of what it means to “speak prophetically,” and the implications for our fractious cultural and political moment are striking.

Cover Story

Forgive Us Our Sins (And Theirs, Too)

Set Free by the Cross, Why Do We Live in Bondage?

New Editor, Old Roots

The Motherly Love of a Wrathful God

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Democratic Christians Weigh Their Primary Concerns

Real Love Requires a Command

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Have You Noticed Church Is Farther Away Than it Used to Be?

María de los Ángeles La Torre Cuadros

Why Do Fewer Christian Women Work in Science?

Twelve Christian Women in Science You Should Know

Erica Carlson

Mary Schweitzer

Joanna Ng

Audrey Bowden

Margaret Miller

Jessica Moerman

Keila Natilde Lopez

Georgia Dunston

Mercy Akinyi

Alynne MacLean

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I Assumed Science Had All the Answers. Then I Started Asking Inconvenient Questions.

The Old Testament Twins We’ve Forgotten

Our March Issue: Us vs. Us

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Christian Martyr Numbers Down by Half in a Decade. Or Are They?

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Despite a Murder and Visa Denials, Christians Persevere in Turkey

The Many Faces of Narcissism in the Church

Review

Religious Parents Are Remarkably Similar, Even When They Belong to Different Religions

Review

Be Careful About Reading the Bible as a Political Guide

New & Noteworthy Books

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My Generation Prized ‘Authenticity.’ Why I’ve Come to Love Wearing a Mask.

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Why German Evangelicals Are Praising God in English

View issue

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The Russell Moore Show

BONUS: Lecrae on Reconstruction after Disillusionment

 Lecrae joins Russell Moore to take questions from Christianity Today subscribers

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