Jaycee Holmes (Courtesy of NYU Tisch)
Read the full article, published December 5th, 2024.
Below is an excerpt:
When ITP alum Jaycee Holmes was an undergraduate student at Spelman College — a historically Black, women’s university — the maker space lab for students consisted of one 3D printer and one laser cutter in a small room. Now, as co-director of the lab, Holmes is preparing for it to triple in size.
After graduating from NYU’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, Holmes co-founded CodeHouse, a nonprofit that guides students of color to access STEM careers through networking opportunities and over $1.9 million in academic scholarships. She has been applauded for her work with CodeHouse on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and by the Obama Foundation.
Holmes said that she immediately applied to NYU’s ITP — a master’s program that combines the study of engineering and the arts — after earning her undergraduate degree in 2016. Throughout her time in the program, Holmes said she found a passion for user experience design and augmented reality. When they weren’t in classes, Holmes worked at Bloomberg as a data research fellow, and then as a product design apprentice at the New York City Mayor’s Office. In the summer of 2017, Holmes also taught computer programming with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that hosts classes and career development opportunities for people worldwide in an attempt to someday minimize the gender gap in the tech industry.
During their final year at NYU, Holmes worked at Princess Nora University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for two months after learning about the opportunity through an ITP alum. There, she developed the university’s first maker space — an experience that preceded her work as co-director of Innovation Lab, the student maker space at Spelman, where she has also served as a professor since 2020.