I like hanging out with my friends, watching movies,

getting my nails done, and lately I've

been into machine learning using convolutional neural networks.

I don't know why you're laughing at me.

AFSHIN: Since childhood, she's always

wanted to know everything.

SALMAN: Why is that?

How is that?

What does it do?

She just wants to be always learning, moving,

doing different stuff.

SHAZA: I haven't always been into computer science,

but my mom grows rosebushes in my front yard.

Every season they get diseased, and then my mom

and I would have to diagnose it.

SALMAN: Knowing Shaza, she wanted

to do something about it.

SHAZA: I had the idea as a potential thing

I could do for my research class with Ms. Son.

HYUNJIN SON: Why anyone would sit around their summer

vacation teaching a machine to identify plants, I'm not sure.

But that was what she wanted to do.

SHAZA: I wanted to have a way people

could diagnose plant diseases just by taking a photo of it.

And so that's when I started looking into TensorFlow.

I'd watch different tutorials and read blog posts

every night.

HYUNJIN SON: Shaza took it upon herself

to do all the background research necessary

and start to ask, what can this really do?

SHAZA: Plant MD works when the user takes

a picture of the plant, and it tells you what plant it is,

and whether it's healthy or diseased,

and if it is diseased, what disease it is.

SALMAN: My first question was is it

an app that's only on your phone?

And she's like, no.

Somebody has downloaded this app and using it?

That was, like, wow.

Something that-- I just was so proud.

SHAZA: I don't think you have to be a super genius

to get into coding.

Really anyone can do it with an idea and with perseverance.

I feel like open source technology

and the wealth of information on the internet

is empowering my generation.

I know that I can do anything I put my mind to,

and so can anybody else.

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