(CS) program (her first choice of major) was highly ranked and well-regarded. Then, she was offered a generous academic scholarship to attend UW–Madison through CollegeReady. Suddenly, the decision became clear—she would be a Badger, too.Today, Krohn is thriving as a double major in CS and Data Science with a certificate in Entrepreneurship, a member of multiple tech-focused student organizations, and an emerging entrepreneur turning ambitious ideas into practical products.

With her father and sister both working in the world of software, Krohn had learned firsthand about the variety of opportunities available to those on the frontiers of computing. However, she noted, “not a lot of women went into those fields, which was motivating for me.” Having enjoyed statistics in high school, she became interested in exploring the data-driven elements of computing. 

Krohn first heard about the Data Science major from a friend at a student org meeting, who told her how well it paired with the CS major. After taking STAT 240 (Data Science Modeling) with Professor Bret Larget, Krohn found the discipline an attractive “combination of coding and statistical analysis,” and decided to add it to her program of study. She’s far from alone; the CS and Data Science pairing is one of the most popular on campus. (In 2023-24, more than 200 graduates received degrees in both fields — more than any other double major.) The Data Science major has quickly grown to be the second-largest major on campus since its inception in 2019.

Student organizations also appealed to Krohn as perfect spaces to connect with fellow students who shared her interests. She became involved in several, including AI@UW, CS NEST—an entrepreneurship-focused club within the Computer Sciences department—and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), where she currently serves as a Professional Development Officer.

“It’s cliché, but I really believe that your network is your net worth,” she said. After noticing a significant gender gap in the entrepreneurial space, Krohn felt compelled to make a change. She is now founding Women in Entrepreneurship (WE) at UW–Madison, a new student organization set to empower, connect, and equip the next generation of women entrepreneurs. Krohn serves as President of WE, which is set to launch in fall 2025.

The skills and confidence she gained through student organizations, particularly in leadership and collaboration, helped open the door to meaningful internship experiences.  Krohn recently completed a Data Science internship with Green Bay Packaging and has a Data Optimization internship lined up with UnitedHealth Group in Minneapolis this summer. Now, she’s particularly interested in how emerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (AI), are reshaping data science and many other fields.

Krohn said her first real encounter with AI was at her first internship with National Vision Administrators. “They had me write a research paper on how I could implement [AI] into their organization.” But not long after arriving at UW–Madison, she explained, “I started noticing it more in school.” She even took a course offered by the Wisconsin School of Business in which groups of students used generative AI to help come up with ideas for new companies. This academic exposure to AI as a creative tool for business sparked Krohn’s curiosity about how technology could fuel her own entrepreneurial ambitions. 

On the academic side, AI can open new possibilities for studying and learning. For example, Krohn recalled using Google’s NotebookLM research assistant to create an engaging podcast-style conversation about the material from an engineering course. “It helped me a lot because it made the content fun and used analogies to help me understand it in a new way.”

Today’s AI tools can also be “super helpful for idea generation,” Krohn said.

“Business owners and founders of the future will be able to come up with ideas for businesses and projects much more easily, and AI can also help them bring those new ideas to fruition.”

Trinity Krohn

That mindset — seeing a problem and applying technology to solve it — soon led to her most ambitious project yet: creating a platform to unify and simplify campus event discovery. Connecting campus

Being very involved in campus activities, Krohn found it frustrating that event information was often scattered across multiple websites, posters, and emails — leading to missed opportunities. This inspired her and co-founder, CS major Yuqing Wang, to develop CampusConnect, an app that helps students discover campus events, student org activities, academic workshops and more, all in one digital location.

“Clubs sometimes struggle with getting the amount of engagement they want, so CampusConnect will feature a social-media-style feed for them to advertise their events,” Krohn explained. Krohn and Wang’s pitch was recently awarded first place in the Badger Launchpad Pitch Competition, hosted by the Graduate Entrepreneurship Association at the Wisconsin School of Business.

Krohn recommended students interested in computer and data sciences join student organizations to find like-minded peers and open future opportunities. “Getting involved early on was critical for me to explore all the possibilities available here,” she said. “In the end, the people you meet matter more than your final grade in any class.”

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Interested in getting involved with Women in Entrepreneurship? Visit its website or reach out to Trinity Krohn at [email protected]  to learn more.

For more information on the CampusConnect app, visit its website or contact the team at [email protected]. 

Learn more about the Data Science major.