Dr. Nicki Washington

Professor of Computer Science at Duke University, Author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech

Dr. Nicki Washington is a professor of the practice of computer science at Duke University and the author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech. She previously spent nine years at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her professional experience also includes Winthrop University, The Aerospace Corporation, and IBM.

Recognized as one of Essence Magazine’s “Essence Tech Stars: 15 Black Women Disrupting the Tech Industry,” Dr. Washington has led partnerships with the Howard University Middle School of Math and Science, Google, Exploring Computer Science, and Washington, DC Public Schools to introduce computer science courses and teacher professional development across Washington, DC high schools. She was a lead writer for the K-12 CS Framework (led by Code.org) and South Carolina K-12 Computer Science and Digital Literacy Standards. Her efforts in K-12 CS education have directly impacted approximately 10 million K-12 students and thousands of educators in over 20 states and Washington, DC, and they will continue to impact more nationwide as additional states develop K-12 CS standards.

At the undergraduate and industry levels, Dr. Washington’s efforts to recruit and retain students/graduates of color in computing include creating and implementing the first Googler-in-Residence program at Howard University in 2013. This project led to implementations of Googlers-in-Residence at other HBCUs (including Morehouse, Spelman, NC A&T, Fisk, and Hampton). Her current work focuses on addressing the diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the tech industry by measuring and improving the cultural competence of students in undergraduate computing departments nationwide, including the development of assessments and courses dedicated to this work.

Dr. Washington has been a guest writer for CSforALL, USA Today College, The Root/VerySmartBrothas, Code.org, and Mama Knows It All, and her interviews have included Essence Magazine, The Atlantic, WHUR’s The Daily Drum, Association of Computing Machinery’s “People of ACM,” and Modern Figures Podcast.

Dr. Washington is also an experienced technical writer/editor, with over 15 years of consulting experience ranging from small to large enterprises. She is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University (B.S., ‘00) and North Carolina State University (M.S., ’02; Ph.D., ’05), becoming the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. at the university and 2019 Computer Science Hall of Fame Inductee. She is a native of Durham, NC.

Ruthe Farmer

Chief Evangelist at CSforALL

Ruthe Farmer has focused her efforts on diversity and inclusion in tech and engineering since 2001 and is currently Chief Evangelist for CSforALL. She served as Senior Policy Advisor for Tech Inclusion at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy focusing on President Obama’s call to action for Computer Science for All, and previously served as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer and K-12 Alliance Director at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Over the course of her career, Ms. Farmer has launched and scaled up multiple national programs including Aspirations in Computing the TECHNOLOchicas campaign for Latinas, AspireIT outreach program, Intel Design & Discovery, Lego Robotics for Girl Scouts and more. She served as the 2012 Chair of Computer Science Education Week, was named a White House Champion of Change for Technology Inclusion in 2013, received the Anita Borg Institute Award for Social Impact in 2014, and the Education UK Alumni Award for Social Impact in 2015. She is a guest contributor for Techcrunch, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, the Shriver Report, and the Huffington Post, and has been featured in Forbes and TechRepublic for her work. Ruthe holds a BA from Lewis & Clark College and an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford Said Business School and is passionate about integrating innovative business strategies into social change efforts.

Samantha Wiener

Software Engineer at Instagram

Samantha Wiener is a software engineer at Instagram. She is the cohost of Techsetters podcast, which focuses on highlighting non traditional paths of leaders in tech to inspire the next generation of leaders. She completed her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Columbia University. Her first exposure to the tech world was through an internship working for the Smithsonian museum’s web offices, and that started her on a journey to learn more about the intersection of tech and other industries. She is passionate about computer science education, and creating more inclusive spaces in tech.

Aimee Barciauskas

Data Engineer at Development Seed

Aimee is a data engineer and leads the Earth Data Infrastructure team at Development Seed. As a part of Development Seed, Aimee works with organizations such as NASA and ESA to make vast collections of Earth Observation data cloud-friendly to end-users such as researchers and decision makers. Previously Aimee worked as an engineer at Nava PBC developing Healthcare.gov and Medicare's Quality Payments Program (QPP). Aimee cares deeply about using open source software, data, data science and machine learning to drive positive social change. She’s an alumni leader of DataKind DC, where she worked on projects ranging from a program referral portal for DC’s Child and Family Services Agency to analytics tools for open-air quality and an OpenAQ board member.

Shreya Shankar

Machine Learning Engineer at Viaduct

Shreya Shankar is a computer scientist living in the Bay Area. She is interested in making machine learning work in the real world. Currently, she works at Viaduct. Previously, she did research at Google Brain, learned about investing with Amplify Partners, and software engineering at Facebook. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in computer science, concentrating in systems. She is finishing my M.S. in computer science, concentrating in artificial intelligence. At Stanford, she helped run a nonprofit called SHE++, an organization that helps to empower underrepresented minorities in technology. To reach Shreya, you can email shreya@cs.stanford.edu. She is also fairly active on Twitter.

La-Chun Lindsay

Director of Infrastructure Operations at Amazon Web Services (AWS)

La-Chun was born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  She attended Clemson University and graduated in 1995 with a B.S. degree in ceramic engineering.  She also has three honorary doctorates from Cardiff University, the University of South Wales and Swansea University.

After graduating Clemson University, La-Chun held a variety of leadership, engineering and research & development roles with the US Government and private companies before joining General Electric (GE) Quartz in October 1997 where she held roles as process engineer, tubing green belt, supplier quality black belt and manager of the Raw Material Processing Plant.  She joined GE’s Corporate Audit Staff (CAS) in September 2000, performing and leading financial, regulatory, compliance, acquisition, disposition and/or commercial audits.  Her last role on CAS was executive audit manager of global compliance, Latin America and commercial excellence.

In May 2007, La-Chun joined GE Capital as the vice president of Commercial Distribution Finance’s Field Services Group, leading a team of ~400 remote employees.  In January 2014, she joined GE Aviation as Plant Leader of Lynn Assembly, Test and Overhaul where she led a team of ~400 employees in producing and developing engines for GE Aviation’s military and commercial customers.  In April 2015, La-Chun became the Managing Director of GE Aviation Wales, a world-renowned engine overhaul and component repair site with over $3B in annual revenues.

Before joining AWS in June 2020, La-Chun was GE Aviation’s executive leader for Customer Fulfillment where she led a team of data scientists, architects and engineers along with process improvement experts, who partnered on improving GE Aviation’s on-time delivery performance by developing digital analytics to show and predict areas of waste across the various product value steam maps.

La-Chun has always been an advocate for diversity and equality: “nothing more; nothing less” and has received several global accolades for her efforts.

Patsy Mangas

Founder at She Rocks the World

Patsy has always believed in the strength of women. While working in television, she produced a documentary on the history of women’s right to vote. The resilience and courage of the women, who had to convince men to give women the right to vote, made a strong impact. Inspired by these strong, resilient women, Patsy set out to counter the message that television and social media sends to girls – that they are not smart enough, not thin enough and not pretty enough. She began by holding focus groups among teenage girls to find out what was really going on in their lives. Determined to empower girls and introduce them to strong, resilient women, Patsy created The Virginia Girls’ Summit. The Virginia Girls’ Summit quickly sold out two years in a row and their teenage ambassadors, who create each summit, asked for more than just a one day event. She now leads She Rocks The World (SRTW), an online platform for teenage girls to share their voices throughout the U.S. and the world.
 

Will Slack

Digital Services Expert at United States Digital Service

Will Slack is a Digital Services Expert with the United States Digital Service. Prior to that, Will managed products and platforms at 18F, including the Federalist web publishing tool. Before managing 18F products, Will managed the 18F business development process and represented 18F to agency program leaders and CIOs. Will was a healthcare IT implementation and product executive before joining government. He also teaches workshops for beginners to learn about GitHub.

Gia Mar Ramos

Senior at Saint John’s School, Founder of Girl Innovation

Gia is a Senior at Saint John's School from Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She is passionate about technology. As an aspiring Biomedical Engineer, her goal is to make a lasting contribution to society through innovation and make a difference in her community. Gia is a 2017 ProjectCSGIRLS National Winner & 2018 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing National Winner, first-ever freshman to win it. She is the founder of Girl Innovation, whose mission is to close the gender gap in tech. Her role as program leader is to teach and mentor young women about technology and empowering them to be confident, solve problems with technology, and share knowledge with others. Girl Innovation sponsors are Cortelco Systems, CISCO, NCWIT AspireIT, T-Mobile, and HERLead. For her initiative, Gia received the 2018 Puerto Rico Leadership Award in Innovation & Technology category, the Puerto Rico Governor's Medal for her contributions to the society, and the Mayor of Gurabo medal for her leadership and entrepreneurial skills. She is a 2019 HERLead Fellow sponsored by Vital Voices and Ann Taylor/Loft Company and 2019 T-Mobile Changemaker.