This was a diversity assignment to report on some leaders and significant contributors to the field of computer science from marginalized minority groups.
Marsha Rhea Williams
Marsha Rhea Williams is an African-American expert in information technology and advocate for STEM, especially in underprivileged black communities. Dr. Williams is most notably known for being the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. in computer science. This was done at Vanderbilt University in 1982. Dr. Williams also has a B.S. in physics from Beloit College, M.S. in physics at University of Michigan, and a M.S. in Systems and Information Science at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Williams has an expansive professional career, teaching at several schools including Tennessee State University, Memphis State University, Fisk University and the University of Mississippi. Today she is a tenured professor at Tennessee State University.
Dr. Williams is a member of several organizations, including Association for Computing Machinery, fellow at National Science Foundation, advisor to National Society of Black Engineering Students and founder of Association for Excellence in Computer Science, Math and Physics.
Throughout her professional career Dr. Williams has been a strong advocate for STEM, especially for minorities and those in underprivileged communities. She has been recognized by news agencies, prominent leaders and even books for kids promoting STEM and an influential role model. As referenced below, there are many sites recognizing her contributions to the black community and encouraging youth to pursue computer science and math.
Lastly I’ll state here that I came across her name from a post made by my employer on their social media site. I work at a National Laboratory and for Black History Month she was one of the scientists recognized for her achievements and contributions to diversity and STEM. I found we were not the only ones posting about her during Black History Month.
References:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (2021, February 27). Our celebration of Black STEM history continues with computer science pioneer Marsha Rhea Williams, the first Black woman in the United States to receive her Ph.D. in computer science. [Post]. Facebook.
https://m.facebook.com/livermore.lab/posts/3982123425153510
CISA Cyber. [@CISAcyber]. (2022, February 1). DYK that Marsha Rhea Williams was the first African American woman to earn a computer science Doctorate? @CISAgov recognizes the importance of diversity in #cybersecurity and celebrates the contributions and achievements of the Black #cybertech community. #BlackHistoryMonth. [Tweet]. Twitter.
DYK that Marsha Rhea Williams was the first African American woman to earn a computer science Doctorate? @CISAgov recognizes the importance of diversity in #cybersecurity and celebrates the contributions and achievements of the Black #cybertech community. #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/vcX710jVu2
— CISA Cyber (@CISACyber) February 1, 2022
Mahoney, Eleanor. (2018, January 27). Marsha Rhea Williams (1948-). Blackpast.org.
Celebrating Black Greatness in Cybersecurity and Technology. (2022, February 11). Champlain College. https://leahycenterblog.champlain.edu/2022/02/11/celebrating-black-greatness-in-cybersecurity-and-technology/
Vincent, Gavin. (2023, February 7). The Unsung: Black History Month day 7 – Dr. Marsha Rhea Williams. Medium.com. https://medium.com/@gwhiz07/the-unsung-black-history-month-day-7-dr-marsha-rhea-williams-e4693ecd3fd8
Green, Nyasha. (2022, April 5). Women In Tech: What we can learn from Dr. Marsha Rhea Williams by paying it forward. MasterWP.
Women In Tech: What we can learn from Dr. Marsha Rhea Williams by paying it forward
Moody, T.M. (2022). African American Women Pioneers in STEM. Tymm Publishing LLC.
Jen Easterly
Jen Easterly is the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). She has degrees from United States Military Academy and Pembroke College of the University of Oxford. Ms. Easterly has a long and prestigious background taking on many high profile roles in government and private sector. Some of her titles include Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army, Chief of Cryptologic Services for NSA at Baghdad, National Security Advisor to President Bush, Deputy Director of Counterterrorism at NSA, National Security Council and special assistant to President Obama, Global Head of Cybersecurity at Morgan Stanley and now Director of CISA. She has breath and depth experience in cyber security and cyber warfare.
Jen Easterly has made significant contributions to cyber security. Her roles at DHS, NSA, CISA and being an advisor to the POTUS puts her in highly influential positions that directly impact US national security and American lives. Ms. Easterly is one of just a few female leaders that had to excel and break multiple glass ceilings to get to where she is.
Today Jen Easterly is actively engaged with cyberattacks and cyber warfare with foreign countries like Russia and China. Her organization of 2,500 have the mission to protect this country against private and nation-state hackers. I believe that with her wide experience in both physical and cyber security, she will be able to take on these challenges confidently. And I think the US Senate agrees since they unanimously elected her into this position in 2021.
In some of the interviews referenced below, Ms. Esterly speaks of her childhood growing up. She was particularly interested in puzzles and desired getting into a science field. But she also recognized that the Army and public sector is not as open to girls. Below is one of her quotes I’ve taken from a LinkedIn post.
“I want to have the type of culture that will be able to reflect what it means to be inclusive, what it means to be innovative… If young girls and women see me, then they can see themselves in cyber.” – Jen Easterly, CISA Director. (LinkedIn post from Katie D’Hondt Brooks)
References:
Jen Easterly. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-easterly
Brooks, Katie D’Hondt. (2022, February). “I want to have the type of culture that will be able to reflect what it means to be inclusive, what it means to be innovative… If young girls and women see me, then they can see themselves in cyber.” – Jen Easterly, CISA Director.” [Post] LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/katharinedhondt_cbs-exclusive-interview-with-cybersecurity-activity-6850595404426313728-b5ut?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. (n.d.). Jen Easterly. CISA.gov. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://www.cisa.gov/jen-easterly
Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. (2022). Jen Easterly Biography. CISA.gov. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Jen_Easterly_2022_508c.pdf
Our People. (n.d.). Jen Easterly. New America. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/jen-easterly/
Bishop, Todd. (2022, September 30). U.S. cybersecurity agency leader Jen Easterly on partnerships, workforce, making tech accountable. GeekWire.
https://www.geekwire.com/2022/u-s-cybersecurity-agency-leader-jen-easterly-on-partnerships-workforce-making-tech-accountable/
Collaboration in the Age of Hybrid Warfare: A Conversation With Jen Easterly and Paul Nakasone. Interview by Dina Temple-Raston. (2022, October 11). Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/event/cyber-collaboration-age-hybrid-warfare-conversation-jen-easterly-and-paul-nakasone
Marian Croak
Marian Croak is an African-American engineer, inventor and leader in computer technology. Ms. Croak is currently a Vice President of Engineering at Google. Her education includes degrees from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from University of Southern California. Before joining Google Dr. Croak was Senior Vice President of Research and Development at AT&T. She started her professional career at Bell Labs working on digital messaging applications and voice communications.
Dr. Croak holds 200 patents and is most notably known for her work in telecommunications and VOIP. During her time at AT&T her team focused on advancing the technologies of digitizing voice and video. This led to many patents that helped advance VoIP and how we use cellphones and video communications today. In 2013 she received the Thomas Edison Patent Award for developing the technology that allowed payments through cell phone text messaging. This was driven by her desire to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and providing an easy way to make monetary donations. This was the first time this type of transaction was possible. Other relief organizations started leveraging this technology for future disasters and it is still used today.
Dr. Croak was received numerous awards and recognitions. She has been inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and most recently in 2021, inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. During her interview with the US Patent Office (referenced below), she expressed that although she is grateful for all the recognitions, she doesn’t feel any greater than anyone else. I was drawn by what seemed to be genuine humility and gratitude, as she encouraged listeners to follow their passions. Throughout that interview she is answering questions submitted by students from grade school to high school. Dr. Croak portrays a very positive attitude with authenticity like a natural leader who inspires others through their actions and words.
References:
USPTOvideo. (2020, November 24). Speaker Series: Marian Croak [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OignKQOJT-U
Marian Croak. (n.d.). National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 16, 2023 from
https://www.invent.org/inductees/marian-croak
10 Things you need to know about Marian Croak. (2022). National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee. Retrieved February 16, 2023 from
https://www.invent.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/Croak_Fact_Sheet_0.pdf
Marian Croak. (n.d.). Black Entrepreneurs and Executives. Retrieved February 16, 2023 from
https://www.blackentrepreneurprofile.com/people/person/marian-croak
Abrecrombie, John C. (2023, January 8). Croak, Dr Marian Rogers – Inventor of VoIP. Amazing Black History.
R., Breanna. (2020, February 4). Meet Dr. Marian Croak – Inventor of Hosted VoIP #BecauseOfHerWeCan #BlackHERstory. LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/meet-dr-marian-croak-inventor-hosted-voip-breanna-reed/
Erica Baker
Erica Baker is an African-American engineer and diversity advocate. She has a technical degree from the University of Alaska and since has held many technical and leadership roles in public companies and organizations. Ms. Baker has worked in many mainstream companies such as Google, Slack, Patreon, Microsoft and Github. Most recently she held the position of Chief Technology Officer for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Through Erica Baker’s professional career she has made many contributions in areas of cyber privacy and diversity in tech. During her time as an engineer at Google, she discovered pay disparities based on gender and ethnicity. She began posting this information on Twitter, which attracted a lot of attention. Eventually her work became published by the New York Times. In response Google began efforts to be more transparent with their pay scales.
Based on her LinkedIn profile and biographies, it’s evident that Ms. Baker has been actively involved with internal employee organizations that drive diversity awareness and promote inclusive culture. These are efforts she seems to be driving beyond her hired role. Being one who lives and works in the same industry as her, I am very familiar with these internal organizations. As a minority myself, I too have been involved with employee affinity groups and admire leaders like Erica Baker who really try to raise awareness.
Furthermore, outside these companies Ms. Baker has presented at multiple conferences and events promoting diversity. There are multiple videos and tech news outlets reporting on these events. She’s been part of interviews with popular Silicon Valley news reporters like TechCrunch, Bloomberg and SiliconBeat. Today she is still an active advocate for women and minorities in Silicon Valley and the tech industry. Sad that I didn’t know of her until now. But I’ll definitely recognize her now as I am also active in these events and news outlets.
References:
Erica Joy Baker. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericajoy
Erica Baker. (n.d.). Full Color Future. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from https://fullcolorfuture.org/full-color-50/erica-baker/
Speakers. (2022). Erica Baker. DevOps Loop. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://devopsloop.io/2022/speakers/erica-baker
Conger, Kate. (May 9, 2016). Tech has more of an exclusion problem than a culture problem. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/09/tech-has-more-of-an-exclusion-problem-than-a-culture-problem/
Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani is a lawyer and politician by trade, however, she is most well known for being the founder of Girls Who Code. Ms. Saujani has degrees from Yale Law School, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Harvard Kennedy School. She has practiced law in the state of New York and has also ran in multiple elections in that state. Ms. Saujani is also an author of many books, one becoming an international bestseller “Brave, Not Perfect”. She also presented a TED talk based on that book, which has been watched by several millions of viewers. Ms. Saujani has also received many awards such as the Fortune 40 Under 40 and Wall Street Magazine’s Innovator of the Year.
Ms. Saujani is an activist for women and minorities in tech. Her organization Girls Who Code is perhaps one of the most influential non-profits in Silicon Valley and the tech industry for these minority groups. I have personally been impacted by this organization as my current and previous employers have been actively engaged at their events. With my current employer, our Cyber Security team offers internship programs for high school and college girls whom we often find through Girls Who Code. At my previous employer I had the privilege to volunteer at a company hosted hackathon event made for high school students and Girls Who Code.
Though Resham Saujani’s background or profession is not directly working with technology, say like an engineer or scientist, it was during her run for office that enlightened her on the knowledge gap, particularly in areas of STEM, for underprivileged girls. That is what inspired her to create Girls Who Code.
I consider her one of the biggest contributors to STEM. As mentioned, we have had interns involved with Girls Who Code. One of these interns graduated a few years ago and now works with us full time as an engineer. She is a Latino-American and told me if it were not for Girls Who Code she may have never gotten into this industry. Ms. Saujani’s impact was not only on girls but for ethnic minorities too.
Ms. Saujani has a particular interest in helping those of lower social class and vulnerable. During an interview with Sabina Bhatia, she stated how during COVID-19 those near poverty were struck more as their jobs generally did not support remote work and learning. Kids did not have the Internet or the technology equipment needed. The pandemic has created a gap for this generation. Through Girls Who Code and another non-profit she has spearheaded called Moms First, she has been working to bridge those gaps.
References:
Reshma Saujani. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshma-saujani/
Reshma Saujani Personal Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
Reshma Saujani Bio. (2019, March). FULL BIO: Reshma Saujani. Girls Who Code.
https://girlswhocode.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Reshma-Saujani-Bio-March-2019.pdf
Bhatia, Sabina. (2022, March). Finishing the Fight: Interview with Reshma Saujani.
IMF
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2022/03/Finishing-the-fight-Saujani-Bhatia
Marantz, Andrew. (2017, July 10). The CEO of Girls Who Code wants you to know that its OK to fail. The New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-ceo-of-girls-who-code-wants-you-to-know-that-its-ok-to-fail
Mark Dean
Mark Dean is an African-American engineer, computer scientist, inventor and professor. He spent a large part of his professional career working at IBM where he holds 23 patents. He has held multiple roles at IBM, most notably becoming the first African-American to become an IBM Fellow, which is the highest honor at the company. Dr. Dean also held positions of Vice President and Chief Technology Officer while at IBM. Later he joined the University of Tennessee and is a Professor Emeritus for the College of Engineering. Mr. Dean has degrees from University of Tennessee, Florida Atlantic University and Ph.D Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Dr. Dean has received multiple awards and recognitions. These include IBM Fellow, which he was the first African-American to achieve. He was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, and in his hometown in Tennessee they have a day officially known as Mark Dean Day.
Dr. Dean and his team created some of the revolutionary technologies and architectures that would help drive IBM and their PC business during the 1990s. This boosted his career into executive roles and becoming a role model for African-American engineers.
Dr. Dean comes from humble beginnings where his childhood schools were some of the first integrated schools with both black and white students. He excelled in his youth, reportedly getting straight-A grades from his white teachers. He had a lot of interest in science and technology, and in particular, computers. According to his youtube interview, he realized this in middle school and following that interest led him to the University of Tennessee for B.S. in Electrical Engineering.
References:
Diaz, Sara. (2007, March 6). Mark Dean (1957-). Blackpast.org.
Mark Dean. (n.d.). National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from
https://www.invent.org/blog/inventors/mark-dean-dennis-moeller-computer-peripherals
Teach Computing. (2020, October 26). Mark E. Dean: co-inventor of the PC [Blog]. Teach Computing. https://blog.teachcomputing.org/mark-dean/
Mark E. Dean, PhD. (2021). Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from
Mark Dean. (n.d.). Famous Black Inventors. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from
https://www.black-inventor.com/dr-mark-dean
Dean, Mark E. PhD. (2016, August 29). Building Bridges with the Next Generation of Problem Solvers. IBM. https://www.ibm.com/blogs/think/2016/08/next-gen-problem-solvers/
Mark Dean. (2021, January 13). Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip. Biography.com.
Usfri admin. (2022, March). Mark Dean [Video]. Retrieved from
Tarah Wheeler
Tarah Wheeler is a Native American cybersecurity expert, author and activist for cybersecurity and promoting diversity in the tech industry. Ms. Wheeler has degrees from Carroll College and Portland State University. According to her LinkedIn page, she also has multiple certifications and licenses in areas of cybersecurity. Ms. Wheeler has worked various roles related to information security. Most recently she holds the Senior Fellow in Global Cyber Policy role at the Council on Foreign Relations and CEO for Red Queen Dynamics, a small security company providing SaaS in cybersecurity.
Tarah Wheeler is mostly known for being an activist for cybersecurity. She has presented at events, interviews and many other venues talking about various areas of cybersecurity. For example, she presented at a senate hearing to testify how Apple’s claim that if users get private repairs it could cause security breaches and possibly user data loss or exposure. Ms. Wheeler testified how bogus these claims were and that data, which is software and encrypted, cannot be exposed due to hardware fixes like touch screens. Furthermore, she stated that more girls and tech enthusiasts need to take roles in public seats like in the senate so that they have better understanding of such technical concepts.
Ms. Wheeler is the author of “Women in Tech: Take Your Career to the Next Level with Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories”. The book talks about some of the challenges female tech professionals face and some advice on handling common problem areas. The book is highly rated and Ms. Wheeler has made numerous presentations on the topics at events and talks.
References:
Tarah Wheeler. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarah/
Bio page of Tarah Wheeler. (n.d.). The Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://www.cfr.org/expert/tarah-wheeler
Tarah Wheeler Personal Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://www.tarah.org/about/
Wheeler, Tarah. (2016, March). Women in Tech: Take Your Career to the Next Level with Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories.
Bloomberg News. (2020, February). As Regulatory Environment Split, Could See Three Internets, Says New America’s Wheeler [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7mbrttEVvo
Rossman, Louis. (2020, February). GANGSTER right to repair Testimony by Tarah Wheeler of Securepairs [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGE3paw5WQ
Parisa Tabriz
Parisa Tabriz is an Iranian-American computer security expert and Vice President at Google. She has both bachelor and masters degrees from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has spent almost all of her professional career at Google taking on different roles and moving up the ranks to become the current VP over the Chrome Browser. She is known for making important security improvements over Google’s products, services and processes.
Several years ago Parisa Tabriz achieved fame for taking the title “Security Princess” at Google. This was a self-appointed title while she was working on the information security team. Part of the reason she got the spotlight was because she was the only female security engineer on a team of nearly 30. This team was responsible for some of the early day warning and notification pages we saw on Chrome browsers when accessing malicious sites or non SSL sites.
Not only was Ms. Tabriz successfully at her job and technical work, due to her fame, she used that to advocate for girls and minorities to get into tech and cyber security. She began participating in outreach and speaking at events such as DEFCON kids. She has volunteered for local Girl Scouts and co-created a training resource site for kids to learn more about information security. These efforts led to news interviews, talks at conferences and multiple articles covering her efforts and success. She has become a role model for many young girls and minorities aspiring to become leaders in the tech industry.
References:
Parisa Tabriz. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/parisatabriz
Conger, Kate. (2019, September 5). The Work Diary of Parisa Tabriz, Google’s ‘Security Princess’. New York Times.
Google’s ‘Security Princess’ Parisa Tabriz to be featured speaker for Spring Engineering Convocation. (2022, May 6). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
https://grainger.illinois.edu/news/stories/46996
Parisa Tabriz Security Princess at Google. (2015, August 17). The Medium.
View at Medium.com
CBS Mornings. (2016, February). “Security princess” Parisa Tabriz is Google’s secret weapon [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usGw6zosbms
Jennifer Chayes
Jennifer Chayes is a Chinese-American computer scientist, mathematician, professor and advocate for racial and gender diversity in STEM. Currently she holds the role of Associate Provost of the Division of Computing, Data Science and Society at University of California, Berkeley. She is also the Dean of the School of Information at the University. She is the child of immigrant parents and grew up in New York state. She has degrees in Biology and Physics from Wesleyan University and a Ph. D. in Mathematical Physics from Princeton University. She has also done postdoctoral work at Harvard and Cornell.
Dr. Chayes professional career also includes taking many roles of increasing responsibility at Microsoft. She has contributed in areas of theoretical computer science and co-founding research facilities in multiple countries throughout the world. Some of these are world-renown Microsoft research laboratories working in many areas of science, not just computer science. She has held executive roles and was also a Technical Fellow.
Dr. Chayes is also a member of many advisory boards and steering committees. These include groups working with University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and National Science Foundation to name a few. She has also received numerous awards and recognitions across industry and academia, some related to science and others for her work in promoting women and minority inclusion. She has authored hundreds of papers and co-owns 30 patents.
Dr. Chayes’ work at Microsoft and currently at UC Berkeley revolves around data and how it is applied in computer science, ethics and sociology. In particular, she recognizes that data can be inherently biased, therefore it’s important to identify and design algorithms that mitigate those biases. This has obvious implications in areas of cybersecurity where we could be building solutions off bias data.
Just looking through her credentials it’s easy to find Dr. Jennifer Chayes is an accomplished scientist and leader of her field. After reading through her bio and recent articles posted about her, it’s easy to find Dr. Chayes as an inspirational role model.
References:
Jennifer Chayes. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 12, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-chayes-6328145/
Jennifer Tour Chayes Personal Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2023 from
http://jenniferchayes.com/
UC Berkeley taps Microsoft Research Fellow Jennifer Tour Chayes to lead a new data science division. (2019, August 13). Berkeley University News.
https://data.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-taps-microsoft-research-fellow-jennifer-tour-chayes-lead-new-data-science-division
Manke, Kara. (2019, August 13). Meet Berkeley’s new data science leader. Berkeley University News.
Leven, Rachel. (2022, March 28). For Women’s History Month, CDSS female leaders share their own journeys in STEM. Berkeley University News.
https://data.berkeley.edu/news/womens-history-month-cdss-female-leaders-share-their-own-journeys-stem
Kirsner, Scott. (2010). The women of Microsoft’s NERD Center. Boston.com.
http://archive.boston.com/bostonworks/diversity/2010/glassceilingsshattered
Fei-Fei Li
Fei-Fei Li is a Chinese computer scientist focused on artificial intelligence. She is currently a professor and co-director at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Prior to Stanford Dr. Li was Vice President at Google and served as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud. The academic background includes degrees from Pinceton, PhD in electrical engineering from California Institute of Technology, and Doctorate Degree from Harvey Mudd College. Dr Li was also on faculty at Princeton University and University of Illinoi Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Li has numerous awards and recognitions.
Dr. Li was born and raised near Beijing, China. It wasn’t until she was in high school that she immigrated to the United States. Though a foreigner at her high school, she excelled and continued it through college graduating at the top of her class at Princeton University. Though her academic background did not start in computer science (undergraduate was in physics), she transitioned into it while studying prior physicists. She noticed these physicists looked beyond the particles and questioned what is the meaning of life. This inspired her to chase that question herself. This led her transitioning into computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence.
In the Greylock Youtube interview referenced below, Dr. Li explains some of the key goals she and her colleagues are trying to achieve at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. One of these is ensuring the safety of artificial intelligence. She goes on to explain that safety is composed of four parts – fairness, robustness, trustworthy and practice. Fairness is understanding and mitigating any biases that may arise in AI. Dr. Li states that the biases often come from the data and so it is their responsibility to mitigate any biases in their data. This requires collaboration beyond the computer scientists. Dr. Li’s team works closely with experts in gender studies, psychology, and sociology to name a few. This ensures the robustness of their work. On top of this, the team follows strict review processes that encourages transparency and ultimately trustworthiness of their work.
Dr. Fei-Fei Li is an extraordinary scientist and leader expanding the field of artificial intelligence while making sure it is safe for humans. An inspirational role model who brings science, ethics, morality and everything in between into her work.
References:
Fie-Fie Li. Home [LinkedIn page]. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 16, 2023 from
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fei-fei-li-4541247
Greylock. (2022, February). Dr. Fei-Fei Li on Human-Centered AI [Video]. Retrieved from
Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. (n.d.). Fei-Fei Li. Stanford University. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://hai.stanford.edu/people/fei-fei-li-0
Stanford Profiles. (n.d.). Fei-Fei Li’s Profile. Stanford University. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://profiles.stanford.edu/fei-fei-li?tab=bio
Meet the Fellows. (2019). Fei-Fei Li, 1999. Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://www.pdsoros.org/meet-the-fellows/fei-fei-li
Welcome to the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab. (n.d.). Stanford University. Retrieved February 16, 2023, from https://svl.stanford.edu/
Silai, Yuan. (2018, September 13). Why Is Li Feifei Leaving Google’s AI Lab?. YiCai. https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/why-is-li-feifei-leaving-google-ai-lab