Grace Awuma worked in cloud security at the UN Development Program
Grace Awuma completed a co-op with the cloud infrastructure services team for the United Nations Development Program in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The United Nations Development Program is on the ground in roughly 170 countries and territories helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and build resilience.
Its data and digital resources, meanwhile, are in the cloud – a global network of remote servers on the internet used to store, manage and process data – and Northeastern University co-op Grace Awuma is one of its gatekeepers.
“We are the center of the entire world when it comes to the (United Nations Development Program),” said Awuma, who is earning her master’s degree in software engineering and information systems at Northeastern. “We do the management, and we grant access to who should see what, which data you should be able to access so that data will not be leaked, and also we secure the data that every country office would want to secure.”
Awuma recently completed a co-op with the U.N. in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she worked on the cloud infrastructure services team.
It’s quite a different place and a different role for Awuma compared to four years ago.
Awuma is from Ghana and earned her undergraduate degree in communication studies from the Ghana Institute of Journalism (now the University of Media, Arts and Communication).
But while working as an administrative officer at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana following graduation, Awuma had to deal with a customer relationship management system, a database that managed the organization’s data and records. Unfortunately, the system made it very difficult to retrieve individual records, requiring that users export the entire database into Microsoft Excel or Word and manually search for what was needed.
“It was really tedious, especially when you were dealing with time-sensitive requests,” Awuma said.
When a team of engineers came in to fix the system, Awuma noticed a woman on the team.
“I was so impressed,” Awuma said. “In Ghana, it’s very rare for you to see a lady who is a software engineer.”
Editor’s Picks
The woman encouraged Awuma to visit her office and then try a three-month certificate course in software engineering.
Awuma enjoyed the course. However, there was one problem. Awuma said it is very difficult in Ghana to go from a non-technical degree into a tech-related program at a university, especially if, like her, you didn’t study science or technology in high school.
Thankfully, Northeastern held its 2023 Global Leadership Summit in Ghana. The annual event brought together alumni, students, families, industry partners, and others to explore themes affecting the university, higher education and the world.
“I attended one of the sessions, and I asked if someone like me – a non-tech person – could go into tech,” Awuma said. “They told me, ‘yes.’”
So, in September 2024, Awuma moved across the world to enroll in the two-year software engineering program on Northeastern’s Boston campus, where she developed an interest in cybersecurity and cloud computing.
“Grace stood out for her curiosity and persistence,” said Ashutosh Sawant, an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern who taught Awuma’s cybersecurity audit and compliance class. “She didn’t have the typical tech background, but she made up for it by grounding concepts in real-world context. … If anything, her outside perspective helped as she asked the kind of questions that pushed the class to think about why something mattered, not just how to safeguard it,” he said.
When it came time to do a co-op, an opportunity with the UNDP enabled Awuma to combine and further explore her interests in cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure as well as work with people across the world.
“You are actually helping country offices all over the world,” Awuma said, referring to UNDP offices in countries where it does inclusive and sustainable development projects. “You’re not helping just individual people, you are helping the country as a whole.”
In her co-op, Awuma manages requests from different UN offices for information and digital resources, grants permissions (or exemptions, in some cases), helps secure data, documents processes, and helps integrate artificial intelligence into the work environment.
“In a nutshell, this co-op is a part of the team that is the boss of the cloud service,” Awuma said.
Andrii Sukov, an Information and Communication Technology Analyst who supervised Awuma during her co-op, said that she was “an absolute asset” to the team.
“She stood out for her independence, systematically solving complex technical challenges with minimal supervision,” Sukov said. “Beyond her technical skills, Grace was a fantastic, proactive teammate who communicates beautifully and adapts seamlessly to fast-changing environments. Her collaborative energy made her a true pleasure to work with.”
Northeastern Global News, in your inbox.
Sign up for NGN’s daily newsletter for news, discovery and analysis from around the world.
As for Copenhagen, Awuma found it beautiful, picturesque, and ‘very quiet’ compared to Boston. It actually reminded her of Ghana.
“There’s a strong sense of community and family in both places,” Awuma said. “Neighbors know each other, and every town tends to have common gathering spots where people come together.”
She is also proud of herself for taking the chance on a new city and a new job.
“I’m happy that I made a move from my earlier career into this career,” Awuma said.
