Fernando Schapachnik

Director of Education in the Sadosky Foundation

A Computer Lover in Academia

In the time of floppy disks and large, bulky PCs, you would find Fernando in Argentina programming his school’s computer. His lifelong interest was sparked early and was taken further at the University of Buenos Aires, where he studied it for his bachelor’s, master’s, and even completed a Ph.D. in formal verification of distributed systems. He worked afterward on CRM software for a large public office, but always kept his hand within academia. His commitment to remaining a scholar in the field was strong, but he also wanted to make a living for himself. Working in academia in Argentina at the time was not well-paid and for a long time he remained a part-time scholar at the University of Buenos Aires.

This career changed drastically when he was approached by a leading figure in the Argentinian Ministry of Science. They wanted to tackle the huge lack of interest in computer science within the country, a pressing issue at the time.

“It was very a difficult problem, image someone posits to you how you would solve this enormous social issue. There’s a lot of research you haven’t read and an entire ecosystem of people involved.”

 

Tackling Computer Science Education across Argentina

They first undertook the development of a program to work with universities across the country, no small task given the size of Argentina. He began to understand that the issue of enrollments in computer science and that of bringing a greater awareness of it to a younger audience were interconnected. His team has since become the national one fostering computer science in schools within Argentina and comprises fifty people working with thirty universities across the country. They have developed their own computer science textbooks for young students that are culturally appropriate for Argentina.

Fernando became a public servant and leader of a large team, but would always retain his scientific approach. He’s very proud of his work on this issue and knows his training as a professional computer scientist was essential to the task. Instead of running his tests on a computer and staying up all night because it crashed, now he fills in authorisation forms to go to schools and teaches children about computer science. He sees his training as a computer scientist used every day working with public policy:

“As a scientist, you’re mapping an ecosystem, finding the most relevant information on a topic, carrying out experiments. This is all training that I’ve found very useful.”

This has also taught him that there are many more ways to have an impact as a scientist than publishing. He has given up many facets of his research and publishing power in order to focus on bringing computer science education to a younger audience and allowing their own interest in the subject to bloom. This has given him a lot of fulfillment.

 

Improving Culture and Diversity Present in Latin American Education

He believes education tailored towards Argentina and Latin America as a whole is one important issue currently, as it has been very common to use imported translated textbooks and resources for classes.

“There are different implications for students here in Latin America than in Europe. In Argentina, when children upload material to a company’s servers, they should understand that their data may not be protected.”

There has been much discussion surrounding this issue and unfortunately a lack of action taken against companies misusing data within Argentina. Fernando believes a greater education on these issues will bring greater progress in the future.

He also sees a very strong push for greater equality and transparency in the workplace within Argentina.

“The feminist movement is at a very strong point. It has a lot of traction, there’s a lot of things going on towards tackling gender bias and violence. This will hopefully permeate.”

One silver lining of the pandemic has been a greater intake of remote workers from other parts of the country. In Fernando’s own team, 10% are working from other provinces. This lowers the barrier to entry for those who don’t live in large urban environments like Buenos Aires.

This kind of impact was what led Fernando to a scientific career in the first place. He has taken his grounding in the principles of computer science and used them to successfully tackle an at-times overwhelming lack of support for this computer science education within his country. He has also opened up the field for those who were given the misconception that it was a field not for them. His diverse set of skills allowed him to address these issues and bring real change to Argentina.

You can find more information about Fernando and his team over at program.ar.