Alumni Achievement Award recipient Noel Claudio inspires IST students

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Noel Claudio, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) in 2014, was one of 11 prominent young Penn State alumni recognized by the Penn State Alumni Association at the Alumni Achievement Awards Ceremony on March 18.

Claudio is the third IST alumnus to receive the award, which is presented to University graduates who have achieved exceptional success at an early age. A strategy and operations analyst at Twitter, Claudio has been a strong advocate for Latinx workers in technology. He regularly organizes events to bring awareness to careers in consulting and technology and mentoring underrepresented students who aspire to work in the industry.

“Receiving this award is a huge honor, and the biggest reason is that people that typically come from my background haven’t been here — just making it to college and being a first-generation graduate (has been challenging in itself),” said Claudio. “It means so much to be excelling at something that is worthy of recognition from other people.”

Motivated by the University honor, Claudio said he hopes to further inspire Penn State students — especially those from underrepresented backgrounds — to follow in his footsteps.

“In the past few years, we’ve seen a big rise in diversity and inclusion initiatives at the corporate level and at the collegiate level, driven by the diversity gap in tech and in STEM overall,” he said. “I realized that I have a voice in this platform — as an immigrant, an underrepresented minority and a first-generation college student working for one of the top companies in the world.”

Recently at Penn State, Claudio participated in the IST Identity Talks series panel focused on "Celebrating Hispanic Heritage," sharing his unique vantagepoint on his professional and personal journey as a first-generation college student and as a Latinx working in the tech industry. Last month, Claudio spent the day networking over lunch with IST students from underrepresented backgrounds, participating in a Q&A session with first-year students in an introduction to application programming class, and touring the Westgate Building with IST Diplomats.

“The main takeaway I got is that I need to start now,” said Pamela Carey, a first-year student who heard Claudio speak during her class. “He stressed that the earlier we are able to get started, the better off we will be. He specifically said that it would be helpful to start looking for small internships in our second year to prepare us for a larger one in our junior year, and that certainly resonated with me.”

Joseph Tumwebaze, a fourth-year student studying information sciences and technology, said he was appreciative of the opportunity to connect with a distinguished alumnus of the college.

“As a first-generation student myself, I attended the luncheon because I was so impressed by Noel’s story and his professional journey; I wanted to learn more,” he said. “He shared valuable tips for networking and navigating professional connections, and practical ways of overcoming imposter syndrome.”

Tumwebaze concluded, “I applaud the College of IST for providing students with great opportunities to network with very successful alumni like Noel. It’s exciting to see the investment in our continued career growth as students.”

Claudio has participated in a number of recent initiatives with the College of IST, including serving as a panelist for IST Identity Talks – Celebrating Hispanic Heritage last fall. On May 4, he will serve as the keynote speaker at the inaugural First-gen Student Support Summit, hosted by the Student Success Center in Penn State Undergraduate Education.