[ Debbie Martinez ]
[ Debbie Martinez ]
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Ms. Debbie Martínez is an Engineer Project Manager working at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) since 1990 supporting NASA aeronautics and space exploration missions. She has over 30 years of experience in engineering, technical, and managerial positions supporting both Aeronautics and Space mission projects.
Additionally, Ms. Martínez is a proactive participant in NASA educational outreach program efforts. She participates in the NASA LaRC Speakers Bureau which has enabled her to be an international ambassador promoting NASA mission work to numerous government agencies/military, academic institutions’ and professional events/panels. In December 2016, Ms. Martínez served on the “Modern Figures In Space Exploration” panel in commemoration of the Hidden Figures movie prescreening event hosted in the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama.
For the past 20 years, she has served as NASA LaRC Hispanic Employee Program (HEP, Presidential Executive Order 13171) Hispanic Advisory Group (HAG) chair under LaRC Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO) and the HEP@NASA LaRC site webmaster (https://oeop.larc.nasa.gov/hep). She has established four (4) minority web sites (Latina Women of NASA, NASA Hispanic Astronauts, WON LaRC, and NASA HEP) which has provided young women and minorities everywhere with virtual mentors. In 2016, she established and chairs the Hispanic Employee Advisory Committee (HEAC) Employee Resource Group (ERG). She is a co-founding member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Southeast Virginia (SHPE/SEVA) chapter (2004), a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Hampton Roads Chapter, and a member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
[ Erika Flora ]
[ Erika Flora ]
Erika Flora is the CEO & President of Beyond20 and co-author of an international textbook on “Digital & IT Strategy”. She started her career as a Microbiologist turned Project Manager and discovered a passion for improving how organizations work. In 2006, she co-founded Beyond20, a Digital Transformation consulting and training form and works with leaders in global organizations as a facilitator and coach. The daughter of an immigrant and entrepreneur mother from Guatemala, Erika is a vocal advocate of expanding opportunities for women and minorities in STEM. Erika calls Washington, DC home. When not at work, you may find her cycling, reading, or performing improv comedy.
[ Robert Herrera ]
[ Robert Herrera ]
Robert Herrera is originally from El Paso, TX. He studied at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. While at NMSU, Robert started his software engineering career with a startup company, Electronic Caregiver. After graduating, he spent several years working for Qualcomm as a Software Engineer. Robert recently transitioned to Mantech as a Cyber Forensics Engineer to further pursue his career in information security.
[ Rick Brown ]
[ Rick Brown ]
Rick Brown is the Director of Strategic Cybersecurity at IT Cadre. He leads Visualization Engineering projects in support of IT Cadre’s customers to help them become more effective, efficient, and secure. Rick also represents IT Cadre in the National Defense-Information Sharing and Analysis Council (ND-ISAC) and Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Cybersecurity Program.
Rick served 21 years in the Army in a variety of specialties including Signal Corps, Airborne Infantry, Operations Research, and Program Management. He has operational experience in culturally diverse areas including Afghanistan, Iraq, and Korea. Rick has over 25 years of experience leading technical and risk management teams and projects. He has directly advised senior decision makers in government and industry with mission critical decisions.
Rick is active outside of the workplace and enjoys representing IT Cadre in fitness events supporting the community. He also stays very busy with events surrounding his children. Rick is helping grow the next generation of cybersecurity professionals by serving as an Adjunct Instructor at local colleges and universities.
Rick attended Indiana University on a four-year Army ROTC scholarship where he earned Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Business Management. He holds Master’s degrees in Information Security and Assurance (George Mason University) and Operations Research (Georgia Institute of Technology). He is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and has earned the Certification in Risk and Information System Controls (CRISC).
[ Stephanie Sharuga ]
[ Stephanie Sharuga ]
Dr. Stephanie Sharuga is an interdisciplinary scientist who works for the Federal government Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which manages U.S. offshore energy and mineral resources. She grew up on a farm in Canada and fell in love with the ocean during childhood trips to the coast. Stephanie received a Ph.D. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University, where she studied deep-sea faunal communities in the northern Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She also holds an M.B.A. from University of California Davis, a M.S. in Environmental Management and Sustainability from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Biology and Earth Sciences from the University of Victoria in Canada. Dr. Sharuga has had diverse environmental and sustainability roles working in government, industry, and academia and is a former fellow of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Over the years, she has worked with Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Louisiana State University, BP, International Ocean Drilling Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Her roles have involved participating in coastal and oceanic research taking place all over the world. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys gardening, reading, fashion, collecting rocks/minerals, swimming, scuba diving, and doing STEM education and outreach.
[ Liz Henry ]
[ Liz Henry ]
Liz Henry works as a Senior Software Release Manager at Twitch and also loves hackerspaces, makerspaces, and game development! She is a wheelchair user and lives in San Francisco.
[ James Mason ]
[ James Mason ]
James Mason is the Sys Ops Director at the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) and the cooperative contracting arm, NASPO Valuepoint.
James’ Native heritage is from the Cherokee (United Keetoowah Band) and Muscogee (Creek).
James began his Information Technology career by buying old computer parts and cobbling together PCs for resale. Later that turned in to a computer repair and resale business.
After that James worked as an IT consultant, a college faculty member teaching programming language, IT department manager for the University of Kentucky, and now continuing his career in the non-profit field.
James lives in Lexington Kentucky with his wife and son (nerd-in-training). James enjoys helping people with IT issues so much he has volunteered as an instructor for the local library, and does tech segments on a local radio morning show twice a week.
Title: Flexibility of an IT career
[ Kristy Martin ]
[ Kristy Martin ]
Kristy Martin is a Search Quality Manager with the Search & Content Analytics group within Accenture Applied Intelligence. She has over 12 years of experience in the search industry and an additional 12 years supporting users’ technological needs. Ms. Martin lives in Sterling, VA with her teen son.
Ms. Martin is also a member of the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma and brings her perspective of what it means to be a modern native to her role co-leading the DC Metro Native American Employee Resource Group at Accenture.
Presentation Title: Data Analytics: Let the data do the work
[ Jesse Shanahan ]
[ Jesse Shanahan ]
Jesse Shanahan is a machine learning developer with a focus on humanitarian uses of AI and AI ethics. With an academic background in applied linguistics and astrophysics, Jesse has contributed to research in the fields of extragalactic astrophysics, where she focused on identifying supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, and she holds a patent for cybersecurity applications of machine learning. In addition to her research, Jesse is an avid science communicator with publications featured in Science Magazine, Forbes, and Astronomy Magazine. While she currently works for Peltarion, a Swedish AI start-up with a mission to democratize AI, she has many hobbies outside of work, including a Twitch channel devoted to science education and two dogs - Tennessee and Hubble.
[ Joey Gawrysiak ]
[ Joey Gawrysiak ]
Dr. Joey Gawrysiak is the Director of Esports and an Associate Professor of Esports at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. A former competitive gamer in college, Dr. G started the esports competitive teams in 2018, which now consists of 8 varsity game titles and over 60 students competing in the Esports Arena at Shenandoah University. He wrote one of the first esports curricula in the world with academic programs and certifications across the field of esports at the undergraduate and graduate levels of study. In 2019, Gawrysiak co-founded EDGE consulting with two partners to consult professional and academic entities on a variety of esports implementation strategies. He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) as well as the Board of Advisors for the North American Scholastic Esports Federation, while also being named the NACE Program Director of the year in 2021. Gawrysiak has written several articles and book chapters on esports as well as providing professional development for students working in event management, broadcast production, and social media marketing.
[ Vaibhav Tadepalli ]
[ Vaibhav Tadepalli ]
Vaibhav Tadepalli is a first-year orthopaedic surgery resident at the University of Virginia. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his medical degree from Vanderbilt. He is also an alumnus of the Academy of Science graduating in 2013. His passions include education and innovation and entrepreneurship.
[ Sala Ba ]
[ Sala Ba ]
My name is Sala, and I'm currently a student studying Mechanical Engineering at Stanford. I graduated from the Academies back in 2020, and my dream is to work in the aerospace industry. Currently, I am one of Cards Humanity's Science Ambassadors, meaning that I produce STEM-related educational videos twice a year explaining any topic that I find interesting. I also work as a coordinator at Lab 64, a makerspace in Stanford's electrical engineering department. As a coordinator, I help to run the makerspace, organize workshops, and connect students with resources in the department that can help them complete their projects. I am also in the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship's Class of 2022, which is a program that matches Black freshmen and sophomores with mentors and internships in the aerospace industry. My favorite things to do in my free time are exercise, cook, watch TV shows, drink boba, and hang out with my friends. I am also passionate about making STEM-related fields more accessible and diverse! I hope to be a calculus teacher one day and serve under-resourced communities.
[ Kevin Hurtt ]
[ Kevin Hurtt ]
My name is Kevin Hurtt, MD, FACS. I am the chief of the division of general surgery at Meritus Medical Center and Hagerstown Maryland.
I am the second eldest of a family of nine children and grew up in New York City and Long Island New York. I had an early interest in science growing up and in high school. I attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and graduated with a degree in molecular biology. Upon graduation I got into a serious Automobile accident and had to have surgery and a years worth of recovery and rehab. Once I got back on my feet, I then attended Howard University College of Medicine where I got my MD degree. I went on to do a residency in Surgery and fellowship in laparoscopic surgery and surgical oncology. I have interest in Trauma in acute care surgery as well as surgery of various types of cancers. One of my lifelong goals has been to introduce young scientist into the field of medicine and encourage a new generation of innovators and practitioners.
[ Nakia Grayson ]
[ Nakia Grayson ]
Nakia Grayson is an IT Security Specialist who leads Supply Chain Assurance & Autonomous Vehicle cybersecurity research project efforts at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE), which is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She is also a part of the Privacy Engineering Program at NIST, where she supports the development of privacy risk management best practices, guidance, and communications efforts. Grayson serves as the Contracting Officer Representative for NIST cybersecurity contracts. She holds a bachelor’s in criminal justice from University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and a master’s in information technology, information assurance and business administration from the University of Maryland University College.
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