California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Cal Poly senior Zahnae Aquino pulled a virtual-reality headset over her eyes and her office in the university’s California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI) melted away. Aquino, a computer science major, is no stranger to this virtual space — she spent weeks creating it to support the CCI’s effort to fight human trafficking. She is one of nearly a dozen Cal Poly students who spent the past six months working at the CCI on projects intended to help the fight to end human trafficking.