Sophie Roling, SAS ’22, is a senior from Bala Cynwyd, PA studying Biology with minors in Biological Basis of Behavior, Health Services Management, and Bioethics. She hopes to go to law school after college and apply her knowledge of natural sciences to health-related legal issues.
Outside of classes, Sophie works for Penn Law’s Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition (CTIC). When Penn first joined the PIT-UN initiative, Sophie assisted CTIC and the SNF Paideia Program in the many processes comprising the back-end of the Year 2 Network Challenge grant approval and submission process. Through these organizational tasks, she became engaged with the broader goals of PIT-UN. In late July of 2020 she attended a public internet technology-themed student panel hosted by New America. During the panel, undergraduates from a variety of U.S. colleges and universities gathered to discuss ideas of how to cater undergraduate curricula and opportunities to emphasize public interest technology. Sophie was especially enamored by the overall consensus of the panel that many undergraduates would love to become involved with the public interest sphere but are unsure of how to do so.
With the support of a diverse group of Penn faculty members, Sophie has co-founded the undergraduate student organization PIT@Penn with the mission of providing a broad range of students various opportunities to become involved with public interest technology in some capacity. PIT@Penn will eventually host events including speaker panels and career and internship fairs. She hopes that the membership will grow to include students with backgrounds in STEM as well as public policy.
At Penn, Sophie is involved in multiple extracurricular activities, including: Penn Sirens, Penn’s premiere all-female vocal ensemble; Penn Bioethics Journal; Habitat for Humanity; UNAids at Penn, an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization; and the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project. She hopes to bring the same energy that she fosters from her other civic engagement clubs to inspire students in the public interest technology realm.