When M.S. in Human Capital Management student Catharina Wulandari first heard about Columbia’s AI for Good Hackathon last Spring, she immediately knew what she wanted to try her hand at creating: an online video platform that would allow talent managers in Indonesia to effectively interview deaf applicants.
Before arriving at Columbia, Wulandari had already spent four years working in human resources (HR) for Phillip Morris International in Jakarta, Indonesia, specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her director assigned her the task of creating a disability inclusion strategy, and she soon learned that Indonesia lacked resources for communicating with disabled “talent,” or potential hires, in the HR world, including deaf people.
“I realized deaf talent don’t get the job because they can’t even communicate with the recruiters,” Wulandari explained.
In fact, she learned a lot on the job; after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she began a career in human resources without knowing much about the profession.
“I had to learn basically from zero,” she recalled.
So she began researching master’s programs and was drawn to Columbia’s Human Capital Management (HCM) program because its curriculum emphasizes practicality and is taught by professors with professional HR backgrounds. She arrived at Columbia ready to learn lessons she could immediately use to address the gaps in her HR skill set.
When the hackathon opportunity presented itself, Wulandari was ready. She pitched two friends from the Technology Management program—Lalitya Putri Gitaanjali and Denisha Vanda Ersa Firsty—who both came from a product development background, were also from Indonesia, and agreed to help out. She had a team, an idea, and five days to design and build an AI product that “meaningfully improves people’s lives,” according to the online flier for the hackathon hosted by Columbia’s Technology in Business Association.
“I had no expectations. I told my friends, let’s just do this for fun,” Wulandari said. After five intense days, the three students presented a business plan and a prototype demo and, to her surprise, won second place.
On a recent August afternoon, during a break from her summer internship as a compensation analyst at WTW—a global consulting firm—Wulandari took time to answer questions about the hackathon and her experience with the HCM program.
Can you tell us more about your team’s project for the AI Hackathon for Good?
We created an inclusive, web-based interview platform called SignBridge that translates sign language in real time. The deaf talent signs, and then the recruiter can read the translation in English. We created it from scratch using Claude Code in only five days; we worked day and night and then presented it to everyone participating.
We want to continue our research and product development, and we are working on finding an engineer to help us complete the process. In Indonesia, this doesn’t exist for deaf people who use Indonesian Sign Language, so I want to build something tailored to the Indonesian market. Before the hackathon, I spoke to one of the engineers who built a similar platform for American Sign Language about the technical aspects and the difficulties we would face. She actually lives in New York, which is why I love living in New York. There are so many people here who know how to do incredible things.
What has been your favorite course or professor in the HCM program thus far?
This past summer, I interned at WTW's New York office as a compensation analyst in the rewards data intelligence department. I got a lot of help from my professor, Silvana Nuzzo, who taught my Transforming Total Rewards class, starting with the internship recruitment process. I reached out to her a few days before the interview, and she spent an hour on Zoom preparing me. She taught me how to read a proxy statement, which numbers to focus on, and which sentences to read, including the footnotes. And she told me, “Don’t be afraid, just do it. You will make a lot of mistakes at first, but you will get there.”
Sara Daly-Padron was my professor for Organizational Strategy and Learning. She was very structured, but each class was never the same. It was dynamic, which I really liked. She was always transparent about how she graded assignments and why she assigned them. She also acted as a career mentor for me during the recruiting process for my summer internship. She helped me to align my current experience with my future aspirations: Based on what I want to do in the future, what do I need to do now? She helped me to transform my random thoughts into something more structured.
What advice would you give prospective students for the HCM program at Columbia?
First, you can come from any background. In my class, some people have nine years of experience, while others have none because they just graduated. We actually all learn together, and the less you know, the more you will learn.
Second, Columbia offers many opportunities, like taking classes in other majors, joining competitions like the hackathon I did, or participating in student organizations. The most important thing is to have an open mindset and to want to know more about the world. You should collaborate with people outside your major so you understand how others think, not just how people in Human Capital Management think, because as an HR professional you will create strategies for others, not just yourself.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Human Capital Management program prepares graduates to be world-class HCM strategists able to address changing needs in building and motivating talented, engaged workforces in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.
Learn more about the program here. The program is available part-time, full-time, on-campus, and online.
