Program Coordinators

Sowmya Thottambetti

Sowmya was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas where she graduated from Kingsway Academy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Poznan University of Technology and a master’s degree in Computer Science specializing in Systems Modelling and Data Analytics from AGH University of Science and Technology. Sowmya has previously worked as a data and software engineer at Nike, Cisco and Intel. Today she is a graduate student at Columbia University where she is studying Management Science and Engineering. She’s an aspiring tech entrepreneur and hobbyist mobile app developer. Sowmya has been a part of BETA since 2019 as an instructor in Computer Science, now Software Engineering. She now co-leads program development for our Hackathon and STEM Pop-Up events.

Darren Butler

Darren was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas where he graduated from St. John’s College. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has held internship roles within Computer Science Education Research, Information Technology, and Venture Capital/Private Equity. Darren is currently a PhD candidate at Carnegie Melon University pursuing graduate studies in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University with an emphasis on Educational Technology and Learning Science. His research focuses on designing educational technology and learning analytics to support STEM education for novice entrepreneurial technologists in emerging economies. Upon graduation he intends to pursue a career in software engineering and STEM education research and consulting. Darren has been a BETA member since 2019 and serves as a Computer Science instructor and co-leads program development for BETA Hack and Pop-Up events with a Hackathon focus.

OUR Impact

9 Summer Camps

Year Theme

2014 Bringing the STEM Revolution to the Bahamas

2015 Connecting Worlds: STEMming the Bridge to the Future

2016 Prediction, Preparedness, Protection: STEM tools to sustain our Bahamaland

2017 Energy and the Environment for Everyone

2018 The Smart City Challenge: Innovating the Future of Island Life

2019 Cruise Control: Innovating the Bahamian Maritime Industry

2020 Net Zero: Building a Sustainable and Resilient Bahamas

2021 Inter-Island Connection: Building Independent and Collaborative Island Economies

2022 Bahamas 2050: Engineering the Future

2 Hackathons

BETA Hack! Bits and Battles in Partnership with ALIV and Lyford Cay International School (34 students)

2019 2020

BETA Hack! Virtual in partnership with Cloud Carib and Motorola Solutions Foundation (47 students)

2 Bright Minds Academy Pilot programs

600

Students

36%

Average return students

15

Islands across the Bahamas

37%

Average female students