What I Do I work with students around the world to help them use engineering and technology to solve problems in their communities. I enjoy helping students to make their dreams come true by connecting them to people and projects that can empower them to make social impact. I use my computer engineering skills and artificial intelligence to create systems for conservation, safety and health and education.
Why Engineering? Honestly, I was good at math and science and my dad thought engineering would be a good way for me to finance my expensive shopping tastes and ensure I could take care of myself without depending on anyone else.
School Days I went to Boston University majoring in computer engineering. As an undergraduate student, I worked overnight shifts under the famous historic Boston Citgo sign in Kenmore Square in a convenient store making sandwiches to help pay for school. After my shift was over in the early morning, I would be back in the laboratory doing my electronics experiments. When I graduated, I worked full time in industry as a computer architect designing new processors. I went to Northeastern University part time for both my Master's and PhD degrees, while working full time because the company paid for my classes. Once I graduated, I decided that I wanted to help other students get STEM degrees who may not have the resources or a math and science background. When I earned my PhD, I decided to try teaching and joined Tufts University as the only female faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I had no training in teaching, but I knew that students needed real projects that were impactful and would be valuable to industry. It was then that I saw that there were so few women that I started the Nerd Girls Program. We worked on projects that saved historic landmarks, aided different abled individuals and created awesome role models for other youth.
My Day At Work Every day, I get to meet amazing engineers from around the world and work with students on exciting projects. We get to brainstorm what problems we are interested in and then investigate all the challenges and how we will attack these challenges using our technology skills. In many of the challenges we see, we know that we may not have all the experience and expertise to solve it alone. All of our projects are interdisciplinary, and we find experts to collaborate and ensure we truly understand the problem and the people/animals that will use our proposed solutions. For instance, we wanted to do elephant and white tail deer population conservation. We partnered with veterinarians and wildlife experts to help us understand how they use data and what problems they wanted to solve.
Best Part Every day is different! I have traveled around the world and made life long friends. I have visited places and learned about different cultures firsthand. I get to watch young students grow and flourish as professionals, entrepreneurs, and become parents. I get to pick and choose the latest and greatest innovations or topics that I want to work on, and choose which problems I want to investigate. I was the first one to have a drone on my campus. I have cool robots and the most powerful computers on the campus. I have had the opportunity to work with NASA and world leaders.
Proud Moments I was honored to receive the nation's highest award from U.S. President Barack Obama for Engineering, Science and Mathematics mentoring. I was also inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, The National Academy of Inventors, and named one of the top people in Artificial Intelligence. My work has been recognized as having impact on the world and that makes me very proud. I am also very proud of the accomplishments of my students and working with the IEEE-HKN students who excel at giving back to the next generation of future STEM leaders.
Challenges I didn't come from a family of engineers or scientists so knowing how to navigate the educational landscape and choosing an engineering career wasn't something I had much help with. I also often found myself as one of the first and only woman in many situations and environments and people weren't used to women innovators. People tended to judge my intelligence negatively because of my Boston accent, dressing femininely and they had bias against students not from "designer institutions." I didn't want to change who I was to conform to what they wanted me to be/look like and I have fought that my entire career. People call me a pioneer. I think I am more of a "warrior", thus, I earned the name "Warrior Princess!"
My Family I have an awesome, amazing, supportive, the love-of-my life, husband and a beautiful little boy who has infinite energy and curiosity. My boy is more of a mechanical engineer and a wonderful musician. Together, we love traveling the world and learning about new places and cultures. We all enjoy learning about old and new technologies and nature. My little boy has been doing Nerd Girl outreach visits with me since he was 6 months old! He was the inspiration for my book, "Count Girls In", which I co-wrote with one of my former Nerd Girls Katieanne Williams!
Dreams and Goals I want to see one of my companies become the leader in making global impact for saving lives and ocean conservation. My dream is to watch my little boy grow into a happy healthy young man and pursue his own dreams.
Inspiration I grew up with female role models who were long deceased and couldn't relate too. The inspirations I found where the fictional role models, the First Ladies of magic! This included Barbara Eden from the television show, "I dream of Jeannie" and Elizabeth Montgomery from "Bewitched". However, I noticed that the theme of both of the shows was women trying to hide their power and magic. I never wanted to hide my power and wanted to celebrate it. I am a huge Harry Potter maniac and found that Hermoine Granger played by Emma Watson became my newest role model for smart women using their brains and special "magic" to make the lives of others better. Engineering is my magic.
Want to be an Engineer? Failure is part of engineering! Don't be afraid to fail. Don't give up because you think your grades are not good enough, even if someone tells you that! We join sports teams and if we lose a game, we don't give up the sport. Engineering is the same, we play, train and have wins and loses. Try different things and don't think that one engineering project you don't like means all engineering projects will be the same. I've never done the same project twice and I learn something new on every one. That's how we discover what we like. Finally, connect your passion to engineering. I do not mean "math and science" I mean dancing/music/art/writing/theater/sports and see how you can use those talents to become a great innovator to solve problems you are interested in.
Hobbies I am an avid belly dancer, play the piano, flute, and am a trained soprano opera singer. I collect Barbie dolls and designer shoes and boots. I spend every moment in the summer in my garden making it look like a fantasy land.