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Alicia Boyd is a Computer Science Doctoral Candidate at DePaul University in Chicago, IL, set to defend in May 2021. She has been named a 2021 NCWIT Collegiate Award finalist for her work on Intersectional Quantitative Analysis of the #MeToo Movement. Alicia has a passion for mentoring Black and Brown women and girls navigating academia, encouraging health and wellness, and promoting wholeness in their voices. She has earned both her Masters in Mathematics and Higher Education from the University Missouri-Saint […]

Dr. Michele A. Williams has 15+ years of academic and industrial experience in user experience (UX), accessibility, and technology. Her well-rounded experience includes training, design consultation, field research with people with disabilities, and code remediation for building WCAG-compliant technology. She is passionate about ensuring people with disabilities are not excluded from technology and seeks to bring that message to every industry.

Dr. Johnson is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from North Carolina State University (2017), after getting her B.A. in Computer Science from the College of Charleston (2011). Her research focuses on improving developer productivity and satisfaction through evaluating and improving the tools and processes they use to develop software. Her current focus is on software fairness and ethical software engineering practices. […]

Robin Brewer is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. She also holds a courtesy appointment in Computer Science and Engineering. Robin’s research in human-computer interaction asks how experiences with technology can be more accessible to digitally constrained communities. Much of her work focuses on older adults and people with vision impairments. Robin holds a Ph.D. in Technology and Social Behavior from Northwestern University, M.S. in Human-Centered Computing from University of Maryland – Baltimore […]

Dr. Jasmine Jones is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Berea College. Her field is Human-Computer Interaction, where she specializes in the social study and design of embedded interactive systems in social, multi-user contexts. Her recent work has focused on technologies for sharing family memories and for supporting health and wellness goals. Before joining the faculty at Berea, Dr. Jones worked as a Postdoctoral Associate in the GroupLens Research Group at the University of Minnesota, where she […]

Rati Thanawala spent 39 years in the high-tech industry, the last 17 as Vice President at Bell Labs. She has a PhD in Computer Science. She has held executive positions at AT&T and Nokia, in software development, consulting, product management, and business management. Throughout her career, Rati has been an active mentor and sponsor to many women and minorities. She is now a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Rati is the Founder […]

Shana White is the Senior Associate of CS Equity & Justice Initiatives at the Kapor Center. She is a veteran educator who is in her sixteenth year in education, serving in both public and private schools as a teacher and instructional technology coach in metro Atlanta. Shana has received many accolades for her teaching and work, most recently being named a member of the Kapor Center Equitable Computer Science Advisory Board, 2019 Georgia Tech Diversity and Inclusion Fellow, 2019 CSTA […]

Andrea Hence Evans is owner of The Law Firm of Andrea Hence Evans, LLC, an intellectual property law firm. She is a graduate of The George Washington Law School in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, where she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelors of Civil Engineering, respectively. Prior to launching the Firm, she worked at the USPTO as both a Patent Examiner and a […]

Leshell Hatley is a passionate computer engineer, educator, and researcher who continuously combines these three attributes to create innovative approaches to teaching STEAM+CS concepts to students between that ages of 3 and 73. She has logged over 20 years hours teaching African-American and Latino elementary, middle, high school, and college students in formal and informal educational environments throughout NY, NJ, MD, and DC. As the Founder and Executive Director of Uplift, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission embodies her passion, […]

Tammarrian Rogers is the director of engineering, at Snap Inc. She is also CTO of OPTYVA, a consultancy and digital media group specializing in sustainability, business transformation, design and development, communications, and community development. Tammarrian has many passions including mentoring and inspiring girls, women and people of color to explore careers in technology.

Dr. Joel W. Branch is Director of Platform Development and AI Architect at Lucd, Inc., where he oversees development of capabilities for streamlined deep learning solutions for large-scale distributed computing and big data enterprise platforms. Previously, Dr. Branch was a manager in the Advanced Technology Group at ESPN, where he worked on predictive analytics for sports data and media. Prior to ESPN, he was a Research Staff Member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center where he investigated a range […]

Julius Valentine Maina currently serves as a Partnership Specialist within the U.S. Census Bureau for the upcoming 2020 Decennial Census. In this role, he has been charged with developing creative strategies for educating the State on the importance of participating in the upcoming Census as well as increasing Census participation within traditionally hard to count populations in Maryland. He also serves as the Chief of Staff for Janeya Griffin “The Commercializer” and Chief Impact Officer for Public Bloc. Prior to […]

Dr. Nicki Washington is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at Winthrop University and author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech Field. She previously spent nine years at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her research on identity and culturally relevant pedagogy and curriculum to increase the participation and retention of underrepresented students in computer science includes partnerships […]

Dr. Sybil Rosado is a Cybersecurity Professional, Expert Trainer, Motivational Speaker, and Digital Anthropologist. She educates, equips, and empowers audiences to understand the complexities embedded in the evolving matrix of our global digital culture Primarily, Dr. Rosado works as a Professor of Cybersecurity, Criminal Justice, and Social Science at Benedict College. She also serves her college and community as a Board Member of Several Non-Profit organizations, she is a member of the State Guard Cyber unit, a college committee member, […]

Angela Washington is an experienced executive, with first-hand operational experience and has over twenty years of Federal Government experience, serving six presidential administrations. She held various program and specialized positions in key government agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce. Angela joined the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in January 1999 in the Office of the National Director, during the Clinton Administration. Currently, she is a Senior Business Development Specialist […]

Renetta Garrison Tull is Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Student Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC: An Honors University in Maryland), where she is the Co-PI and Founding Director for the National Science Foundation’s PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) for the 12 institutions in the University System of Maryland, and Co-PI Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate at UMBC.  Dr. Tull has worked with […]

Dr. Raquel Hill is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University. Dr. Hill‘s primary research interests span the areas of trust, security, and data privacy. Her more recent work on data privacy uses the semantics of data to create privacy preserving frameworks for text data. Her inter-disciplinary work on the re-identification risks […]

Dr. Brewer does research at the intersection of social computing and accessibility.  As an Assistant Professor and Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in University of Michigan’s School of Information (UMSI), she investigates how to create more meaningful and accessible online communities for aging populations and voice-based interfaces for people with vision impairments.   Her dissertation work focused on developing voice-based online communities for older adults with vision impairments.  In the past, she has conducted research at University of Maryland’s HCIL, Carnegie Mellon’s Usable Privacy and […]

Dr. Seals is an associate professor in Auburn University’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.  Dr. Seals conducts research in Human Computer Interaction with an emphasis in advanced learning technology. The products are developed through this research may utilize the gamification of learning systems, adaptive learning strategies or the use of Augmented/Virtual reality.    Dr. Seals works with many programs focused on improving computer science education at all levels and to increase the computing pipeline by cultivating students’ interest […]

Dr. Felicia Doswell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Norfolk State University. Dr. Doswell holds a B.S. from Norfolk State University, a M.S. from Georgia Tech, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, all in Computer Science. Her education is complemented by over five years of research and development experience and over ten years of academic teaching, research and service. Dr. Doswell has technical research interests in the areas of cybersecurity, networking, human computer interaction and […]

Gloria Washington is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Howard University, where she runs the Affective Biometrics Lab.  She has more than fifteen years in Government service and has broadly presented on her research throughout industry. Dr. Washington holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from Lincoln University of Missouri, and MS and PhD degrees in CS from The George Washington University.

As Sr. Manager of Corporate Business Development and Strategy in the AI & Intelligent Cloud group at Microsoft Corporation, Kiesha drives alliances with global Fortune 500 companies and late-stage startups to accelerate digital transformation in strategic industries. In this role she spearheads key strategic partnerships and negotiates contracts needed to support innovation in the businesses of Microsoft partners and customers with new digital services and business models. She is an alumna of Spelman College with 17 years of experience in […]

Dr. Cheryl A. Swanier is the Department Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science and an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Claflin University where she is named the Henry N. and Alice Carson Tisdale Endowed Professor. Dr. Swanier conducts research in Human Computer Interaction with an emphasis in visual programming of educational simulations with end user programming and educational gaming technologies. Swanier was selected as a Visiting Research Scientist at Google in Mountain View, California for their Inaugural Faculty in […]