BY GINA MAYFIELD
GROWING UP GANDHI
The children of immigrants from India, the Gandhi sisters found their way from tiny Beeville, Texas, to The University of Texas at Dallas along a serendipitous path that led them both to earn a master’s degree in systems engineering and management (SEM) from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
“That degree is a whole mouthful in itself, it just sounds impressive when you say it,” laughed younger sister Sonali BS’24, who received her diploma in May 2025, two years behind her elder sister Shivani BS’21, MS’23.
Sonali Gandhi (second from left) and Shivani Gandhi (third from left) celebrate Sonali’s graduation with their parents at the spring 2025 Jonsson School commencement ceremony.
"There really wasn’t much going on for anyone, so my parents instilled in us the importance of education and getting out of town to do something for ourselves.”
The girls’ parents handpicked Beeville, known for its historical charm and quaint old buildings, as the setting for their hospitality business. But beyond that architectural façade, the county seat of Bee, located south of San Antonio and north of Corpus Christi, didn’t exactly prove to be the land of opportunity for girls with a love of math and science.
“There really wasn’t much going on for anyone, so my parents instilled in us the importance of education and getting out of town to do something for ourselves,” Shivani said.
Sonali added, “Coming from another country, it was definitely hard on our parents because they didn’t have the educational background they wanted us to have. We saw them struggle.”
But one thing the town definitely had going for it was the top-notch St. Mary’s Academy Charter School, which was small but mighty and where beloved teachers created a love of learning in both girls.
“They had a program where students could stay after school until 6 p.m. completely free,” Sonali said. “They would have activities like science projects and experiments or a book club. That environment they created felt like a little bubble so that everyone really enjoyed going to school.”
FINDING THEIR WAY TO UT DALLAS
Big sister Shivani went to middle and early high school about 15 miles from home on the outskirts of town. But a chance meeting at a graduation party for a family friend pointed her life in a new direction when she asked the student about his plans after high school.
“He brought up UTD,” she said. “Here I am coming from a very small school, and I didn’t even know there was a UT campus in Dallas.”
A short time later, the Gandhi family relocated to Argyle in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As Shivani completed her high school years, her geometry teacher encouraged her to take his introductory computer science class.
Sonali and Shivani on a bench in Beeville, Texas, where their family built a hospitality business.
“I was terrible at coding,” she said at the beginning of her software engineering journey. “I made pretty much every single mistake that they tell you not to make in the first chapter of the book, but I found it interesting.
“That’s how I picked my major. I took one class. I was terrible, but I liked the concept.”
The Gandhi family at Shivani’s sixth grade graduation ceremony from St. Mary’s Academy Charter School in South Texas.
High school University Interscholastic League computer science contests brought Shivani to UT Dallas multiple times, and she came to understand the powerful presence of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) on campus.
“I thought I might as well apply and see where this takes me,” she said of the decision that led her to the Jonsson School to earn a degree in software engineering. “I was always at the Computer Science Mentoring Center. I was always going to teachers’ office hours. I was emailing and asking questions. I was definitely very much that try-hard for my undergrad, because I felt like I needed that to be confident moving forward.”
Early on, she attended a meeting about the Fast Track program which allows students to take classes toward both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree simultaneously in several majors, including systems engineering and management (SEM).
Dr. Shalini Prasad (left), head of the Department of Bioengineering and Cecil H. and Ida Green Professor in Systems Biology Science, presents Sonali with the department’s bachelor’s level Outstanding Student Award in 2024.
“I thought SEM might be an interesting blend for me to utilize my business background combined with my engineering knowledge,” Shivani recalled.
Eventually, Sonali arrived on campus. Originally, she wanted to go into health care and initially leaned toward biochemistry before a helpful conversation with Shivani brought new perspectives.
“She mentioned there’s this field called biomedical engineering,” Sonali said of her undergraduate major. “I was used to hearing about computer engineering, electrical engineering — the more typical engineering fields. So biomedical engineering was new to me.”
“Eventually, I got to thinking about how I could incorporate all of my interests into a master’s degree. That’s when I stumbled upon SEM, and I saw the classes I could take, such as quality engineering or data science in health care. That is really what I found interesting, as well as the business classes that merge into it like project management and operations management.”
At the same time, Shivani was also trying to figure out the plan for her master’s, so Sonali suggested SEM. It turned out that several of the graduate-level classes Shivani was taking as electives would transfer over into the program.
“So once again, things worked out for us because of the environment we were in,” Shivani said. “It’s the butterfly effect.”
Shivani earned a bachelor’s degree from the University in software engineering in 2021 before graduating with a master’s degree in systems engineering and management in spring 2023.
Sonali earned a bachelor’s degree from UT Dallas in biomedical engineering in 2024 before graduating with a master’s degree in systems engineering and management in spring 2025.
Sonali and Shivani at a Society of Women Engineers (SWE) conference in Houston.
Once in the program, Shivani reached out to Sonali for help with classes involving multivariable calculus. Shivani returned the favor by sharing her lived experience in the Fast Track program, including classes and professors, so Sonali could tailor coursework after she decided to live her dreams in the SEM program too.
Faculty and staff in the Jonsson School Department of Systems Engineering enjoyed collaborating with the Gandhi sisters.
“It was a pleasure to work with two bright and motivated sisters who planned for their future,” said Brenda Rains, senior academic support coordinator for systems engineering. “Both participated in the undergraduate Fast Track program and earned a master’s degree in systems engineering, which broadened their understanding of systems and integrated their technical and business knowledge."
“Despite having different undergraduate backgrounds, the master’s program benefited them both, and they secured jobs soon after graduation.”
Real-world experience
During her time at UT Dallas, Shivani became actively involved in the Freshmen Mentor Program, the Ladies in Tech mentoring program and BobaTalks, a nonprofit that helps students navigate career and personal development through a coffee-chat style virtual platform experience with a mentor.
“Students can sign up to have a session with you, and it can be about anything from resume reviews to networking or internship tips,” she said, noting that she’s still actively involved today.
But it was Shivani’s involvement as an officer in the UT Dallas chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) that had her coordinating the sponsorship of 18 students to attend the big annual conference where a chance meeting with Toyota Motor Corp. representatives resulted in her first internship and the job she has today as a software engineer at Toyota. Toyota sponsoring many of the UT Dallas hackathons, including WeHack, a hackathon Shivani helped found, made it easy to stay connected.
The person who originally interviewed her for her first internship was the chief engineer of the department at the time — the same department she works in today, which applies its broad expertise to power all the services Toyota offers including navigation, voice assist, destination assist and remote connect services.
“SEM definitely gave me an understanding of what it takes for all of these different levels of complexity to work together to make something functional,” she said.
The Gandhi Girls YouTube channel has inspired other women in engineering.
StAYING CONNECTED
These days the Gandhi sisters have just returned from apartment hunting in Boston, where Sonali will launch her career with Moderna Inc., an innovative company in the biotech space. Even as life takes them in different directions the sisters continue to stay close, sharing their journey together through social media.
“I decided to put myself out there and try something new,” Sonali said of the start of her YouTube channel, The Gandhi Girls, years ago.
Over time, the channel’s direction has shifted from chats about daily life to a topic much more meaningful to both her and Shivani, who eventually joined her.
“There are a lot of people who are in the same position as we were,” Sonali said. “As children of immigrants, we have a lot of pressure on us sometimes. We don’t necessarily have the best guidance, because we are kind of doing things on our own and trying to figure things out by ourselves.”
Sonali knew she wasn’t alone in that experience and didn’t want others to feel like they were either. She decided to use her platform to speak directly to students like her, those navigating the confusing, sometimes overwhelming world of college, internships and STEM fields without a blueprint.
“I wanted to show people what they can expect if they’re interested in engineering,” she said. “How different the fields are, what opportunities are out there, and how accessible everything can be if you’re just willing to put yourself out there and learn.”
At a recent SWE conference, a fan approached Sonali to say the YouTube videos had helped her forge her own path.
“Hearing that really felt validating,” Sonali said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about helping others and leading other people to succeed as well.”
The spring 2025 systems engineering and management graduating class, pictured at commencement with Brenda Rains in the first row, far left and Sonali Gandhi in the first row, far right.
NEW BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Since the fall of 2025, the Jonsson School offers a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering in addition to its master’s degree in systems engineering and management, providing undergraduates with a more comprehensive route into this rapidly growing field. The bachelor’s degree emphasizes a holistic approach to a system that considers its various components such as software, hardware, people and processes to ensure it functions as intended.
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