Associate Professor at Wentworth | Founder, Geek Girls Collaborative
Yetunde Folajimi is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. With a Ph.D. in computer science, her research interests lie in the areas of artificial intelligence, gaming, natural language processing, and recommender systems, and their applications in health and safety education, adult education, Child Education, youth empowerment, and women empowerment. She has served as an advisor to over 100 undergraduate and graduate research projects and has about 20 years of faculty/research experience working with colleagues and students from diverse backgrounds in interdisciplinary fields all over the world and has published over 40 publications, in reputable journals and conferences. She is a recipient of many international awards and recognition from prestigious organizations, such as Schlumberger Foundation, Commonwealth Foundation, Institute of International Education, MacArthur Foundation, and Wentworth Institute of Technology Presidential Epic Award. She is the pioneer Chair of the Ibadan Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Chapter and has attended and served on roughly twenty conferences and workshops, and journals. With a strong passion to promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging, she implements strategies to motivate more girls and women into Computer Science with the objective of actively engaging them in science and technology.
Durga Suresh-Menon
Dean, School of Computing & Data Science, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Durga Suresh-Menon is the Dean of the School of Computing and Data Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Her nearly 20 years at Wentworth are marked by significant accomplishments and collaborations, along with a deep-seated commitment to serving students and the overall community. As a professor, she received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the President’s Award for Excellence in Service, and was named Wentworth Woman of the Year. She has been a faculty mentor, a senator, a search committee chair, member of the community standards board, and graduate coordinator. As Special Assistant to the Provost for Graduate programs, Durga acted as an architect to the restructuring of graduate programs and provided strategic guidance to the University. She was instrumental in revamping and launching the master’s degrees in civil engineering, applied computer science, and project management as 4+1 programs. She led the effort for the University to be certified for Integrated Path to Architecture licensure. She was also instrumental in creating a new portfolio of graduate scholarships, academic excellence and diverse leaders.
Jeanna Matthews
Computer Science Professor, Clarkson University
Jeanna Matthews is a professor of computer science at Clarkson University. She has published work in a broad range of systems topics from virtualization and cloud computing to social media security and distributed file systems. She has been a four-time presenter at DEF CON on topics including security vulnerabilities in virtual environments (2015 and 2016), adversarial testing of criminal justice software (2018) and trolling (2018). She is an ACM Distinguished Speaker, a Fulbright Specialist, founding co-chair of the ACM Technology Policy Subcommittee on Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Accountability, vice-chair of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - USA AI Policy Committee, and a member of the ACM Technology Policy Committee. She is an affiliate of the Data and Society Research Institute. She has been a member of the ACM Council (2015-present), chair of the ACM Special Interest Group Governing Board ( 2016-2018), the chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Operating Systems (SIGOPS) from 2011 to 2015 and the author of several popular books ("Computer Networking: Internet Protocols in Action" and "Running Xen: A Hands on Guide to the Art of Virtualization"). Her current work focuses on securing societal decision-making processes and supporting the rights of individuals in a world of automation. She received a 2018-2019 Brown Institute Magic Grant to research differences in DNA software programs used in the criminal justice system. Jeanna received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999, a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Ohio State University in 1994 and a B.A. in Spanish from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 2016.
Mary Ejiwale
Public Health Informatics Fellow, CDC
Dr. Mary Ejiwale started her career as a Registered Nurse (RN) and a Registered Midwife (RM) in Nigeria. Before diversifying into the field of health informatics, she received a bachelor’s degree in Health Education from the Lagos State University, Nigeria. Her master’s degree was obtained from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi where she studied Health Informatics and Information Management. She’s also a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA). Mary developed an interest in the technical part of health informatics during, and that propelled her to the Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi to gain related computer science knowledge and skills. She later attended the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to pursue a PhD in Biomedical and Health Informatics at the Computer Science department. She’s currently a Public Health Informatics Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mary's involvement in this event does not represent the view of CDC.