About Us

Break Through Tech operates at the intersection of academia and industry to create new pathways into tech degrees and careers for women and non-binary undergraduates from diverse backgrounds.

Thanks to generous support from Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures and investments from the Cognizant Foundation, Verizon Foundation, Ken Griffin, Citadel and Citadel Securities, Hopper-Dean Foundation, Reboot Representation, Strada Education Foundation and New Ventures Fund, our programs are running across the country.

 Our Computing Program is currently offered in New York City at the City University of New York, in Chicago at the University of Illinois Chicago, in the DC metro area at George Mason University and University of Maryland College Park, and Miami at Florida International University.

Our AI Program is hosted in New York City at Cornell Tech, in Boston at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, in Los Angeles at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, or virtually to students outside these metropolitan areas.

Why Break Through Tech?

  • Because we prize potential over privilege.
  • Because we care about building a more inclusive tech ecosystem
  • Because we need to do things differently to get things done

Mission

Break Through Tech operates at the intersection of academia and industry to create new pathways into tech degrees and careers for women and non-binary undergraduates from diverse backgrounds.

Vision

To achieve gender equity in tech.

"If we want the next generation of technology we create to address our society’s most pressing needs, the next generation of technology creators must represent the diversity of technology users."

Debbie Marcus She/Her
Senior Director of Programs