Engineers!
Dr. Linda Kekelis has a longstanding passion for ensuring that all youth have access to caring adults and to opportunities to pursue their interests and achieve their potential in STEM. Throughout her career, Linda has remained committed to research and programs with applied value for parents, educators, and role models. She was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Techbridge, a nonprofit with the mission to inspire girls in science, technology, and engineering. Linda directed several grants from the National Science Foundation to design and scale up Techbridge programs for girls and develop resources for effective outreach for role models. She collaborates with girl-serving organizations, participates on advisory boards, and works with professional groups and corporate partners to promote females’ participation in STEM. She has authored articles for academic, professional, and lay audiences and presented at national conferences. Linda has served in a leadership role on a number of state and national initiatives including the California Girls Collaborative Project, NCWIT's K-12 Executive Council, and the National Academy of Engineering’s LinkEngineering project. Her work in the field has been recognized with recognitions including the 2015 Influential in STEM by the National Afterschool Association, Ruby Award for Women Helping Women by Soroptimist 24-680, and Women Trailblazer in STEM award by California Assemblywoman, Nancy Skinner. She has a master’s degree in Linguistics from the University of Southern California and a doctorate in Special Education from the University of California, Berkeley.