Cynthia Matuszek is an assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her research focuses on robots’ acquisition of grounded language, in which robots learn to understand how language relates to the real, physical world. She has developed algorithms and approaches that make it possible for robots to learn about their environment and how to follow instructions from interactions with non-technical end users. She received her Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington in 2014, where she was co-advised by Drs. Dieter Fox and Luke Zettlemoyer in robotics and natural language processing. She publishes in robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and human-robot interaction venues. Dr. Matuszek was recently named one of IEEE’s bi-annual “10 to watch in AI.”

Dr. José-Marie Griffiths is president of Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. President Griffiths has spent her career in research, teaching, public service, corporate leadership, economic development, and higher education administration. She has served in presidential appointments to the National Science Board, the U.S. President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, and the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information. She has recently been appointed a member of the newly-formed National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, part of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 2019. She has led projects for over 28 U.S. federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and NASA, over 20 major corporations such as AT&T Bell Laboratories and IBM, in over 35 countries, and worked with seven major international organizations, including NATO and the United Nations. She has received over 20 significant awards in science, technology, teaching and the advancement of women in these fields.

Kandyce Jackson is an attorney helping investors, product managers, and engineering teams make decisions about how to deal with the legal implications of data activities and smart city infrastructure projects. Advises on privacy, security, automated decision systems, and consumer protection risks. Advice is informed by prior career managing projects and supervising teams as an information technology professional serving clients in highly regulated industries.

Rosario (Rose) Robinson is an innovative thought leader, speaker and global transformation change agent in technology and diverse workforce. As a woman technologist for more than 25 years and as the Senior Director, Women in Tech Evangelist for AnitaB.org, she helps further the organization’s mission for 50/50 women in tech by 2025 through stimulating storytelling, thoughtful dialogue and advocating for true representation in tech. Rose has worked in the Tech industry in various technical roles in Department of Defense/Intelligence community, Telecommunications, Geographic Information Systems, Cloud Computing, Infrastructure and Open Source Technologies and Programs. She is also an advisory board member for CoffeeChat, a startup that’s building Africa’s next leadership through mentoring and coaching.

Dr. James Foulds (Jimmy) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems at UMBC. His work aims to promote the practice of probabilistic modeling for computational social science, and to improve AI’s role in society regarding privacy and fairness. He earned his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California, Irvine, and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz, followed by the University of California, San Diego. His master’s and bachelor’s degrees were earned with first class honours at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, where he also contributed to the Weka data mining system.

Dr. Loretta H. Cheeks is an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) expert, data science research consultant, and CEO of Strong TIES. During her tenure, she has helped organizations gain dynamic data insights serving enterprises, governments, and nonprofits. Dr. Cheeks is on a mission to create a better world with technology. Before earning a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Arizona State University, the STEAM advocate was developing, deploying and leading various teams within the communications, avionics, instrumentation & control and chemical industries for Fortune 500 corporations. She is the first to identify a computational approach for the discovery of news frames in unstructured text (e.g., online news articles). She has demonstrated a unique ability to integrate communication theory and computer science methods to inform the fields of machine learning, psychology, and mass communication. But this Doctor of Philosophy isn’t just paving the way for up-and-coming engineers, Dr. Cheeks is also committed to improving higher education for underserved and underrepresented communities to follow in her scientific footsteps. To do that, Dr. Cheeks created “Strong TIES,” a non-profit. She is listed among 10 Incredible Black Women in STEM, featured guest on Karen Hunter Show, featured by Verizon on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, recognized as a Change Maker at the White House, and NASA Datanauts. She regularly appears among thought leaders in conferences, peer-review publications, workshops, and speaking engagements in the world. Dr. Cheeks holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Computer Science, Master in Technology Management, and Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Emmanuel Johnson is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on building autonomous systems for teaching soft skills, specifically negotiation. His work has been published in many of the leading Artificial Intelligence conferences and journals. Emmanuel is also the co-founder of Routine Solution, a software development company that builds enterprise software for startups and small businesses across multiple industries. Emmanuel holds a Masters in Robotics from the University of Birmingham in England and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from North Carolina A&T where he graduated summa cum laude. Emmanuel has been recognized by various organizations for his excellence in the sciences as well as his leadership. Some of his awards include the 2009 Carter G. Woodson National Recognition Symposium Man of the Year Award, The Association of North Carolina Alpha Men College Brother with the Highest GPA Award, North Carolina A&T Outstanding Engineering Student Award, The New Brunswick Education Foundation Spirit Award, and the first Fulbright Fellowship awarded to a North Carolina A&T student. . He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and the Association for Computing Machinery.

Deborah K. Kariuki is a current computer science Education faculty at UMBC. Deborah is an Evangelist & Visionary of Computer Science Education committed to an Equitable Education for All by increasing Computer Science Education from K-26. Because every student in America should know and understand how to write/read code. Having good knowledge of Computational thinking is a key requirement for understanding our global technological world that we are living in today. Deborah has extensive experience as a software engineer, and an exceptional computer science educator. She has received many awards as a programmer and computer science educator. The awards that values most are those of making an impact on the next generation of women in computing. At her current dream job, Deborah is tasked to create a new Master of Computer Science Education at UMBC to prepare educators who are going to teach the next generation of computer scientists.