Laurie Damianos

Current position: Chief Architect of Enterprise Social Computing; Department Manager; Senior Principal Artificial Engineer at a research and development company

Education (degrees and school): BS Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University; BS Math & Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Hobbies: Triathlon, swimming, cycling, scuba diving, reading, wine tasting, traveling, training my dog, playing games and doing puzzles

Where were you born and where did you grow up? Near Pittsburgh, PA

Where did you go to high school? A very small public school outside of Pittsburgh, PA (with lots of AP classes)

What did you want to be when you were growing up? It kept changing!: writer, doctor, lawyer, zoologist, entomologist, marine biologist, research biologist, genetic engineer

How did you get into computer science? I had always been interested in math and life sciences. Computer science was not really a thing when I was growing up; no one had computers at home, and laptops did not exist. The people who were working with computers back then were actually mathematicians.

When I was a student at Carnegie Mellon University getting an undergraduate degree in the biological sciences, I kept avoiding a required course in computer science (part of the math department) because I had heard that it was really hard and the professor was tough. Finally, my senior year, final semester, I had to take the class. Boy, was I surprised at how much fun it was! I loved it! I bonded with the professor (who was more weird than he was tough), and he kept urging me to stay another year or two and get another degree in computer science.

I was really tempted, but I had already decided to take some time off and travel around Europe again for an extended period of time. My original plan was to return after one or two years and get a graduate degree in genetics. However, two years became five years, and I ended up living in Greece for almost seven years.

I never stopped thinking about that computer science class. At some point, I was given one of the first “portable” computers (which was REALLY heavy and REALLY big), and I spent a lot of time exploring and programming all sorts of useful applications.

Eventually, I decided to move back home and go back to school. But having had my own computer had done the trick, and I opted to get a degree in computer science. That was a turning point in my life.

What other jobs have you had?

  • Receptionist at a resort on an island

  • Server at a bar

  • Undergraduate researcher in a molecular biology lab studying single-cell algae

  • Teaching assistant in a lab for introductory computer science classes

  • Programmer of educational software for high school biology classes

  • Programmer of short-, mid-, and long-term forecasting software and automated reports for the US automotive industry

  • Human centered engineer

  • Software engineer

What is an average day at work like for you? I spend a lot of time in meetings but for a variety of purposes since I am a manager, a project leader, and an individual technical contributor.

I meet with staff who report to me and ask for career guidance, need help with mediating a situation, or are looking to work on another kind of project.

I also lead a large project for a customer. This project has about 21 people working on four or five different tasks, and it has been going on for about seven years. The team consists of software engineers/computer scientists, data engineers, biologists, and user experience engineers. We do a lot of design work, software prototyping, and data science. We even do some behavioral science. It’s very exciting work, innovative, and groundbreaking. We are working with genomic data and hope to change the future of clinical healthcare as a result of this work. As project leader, I oversee all the people and the tasks, make decisions about what we should or should not do, advise the customer on technical approaches, and even do some of the technical work myself. I explore concepts, develop some of the designs, and create some of the user experience. I work closely with my team of scientists and engineers to prototype our proofs-of-concept, interact with end users (i.e., genomics researchers, analysts, and bioinformaticists), and evaluate the effectiveness of what we build. I make sure my team has what they need and that our customer’s needs are being met. I oversee all of our products and ensure that we deliver high quality work that we are all proud of. I also reward my team when I can and always make sure to give credit where credit is due. Some of my meetings for this project are working meetings where I collaborate with others on an idea, walk through designs, or demonstrate our prototypes to the customer.

In between meetings, I work on designs, analyze data, and document our work. I also consult as an expert on other people’s projects.

What is your favorite part of your job? There are so many parts of my job I love that it’s hard to pick just one. I enjoy learning something new, if not every day, then at least every week. I have been at the same company for 23 years, but I have had so many opportunities to change paths, pick up a new skill, work in a different domain, and interact with a lot of very smart people. I am never bored! The projects I get to work on are challenging, exciting, and almost always on the bleeding edge of technology. The best part is that I get to decide what it is that I want to do here.

What is the best opportunity you have had because of computer science? The fantastic job I have now which lets me grow and learn and explore and innovate.

Any great stories about working in computer science? Even though I do research and prototype ideas, most of my work ends up in operational environments. What thrills me the most is to hear that some of the systems I helped build years ago live on and make a difference in someone’s life somewhere.