INTERVIEWS
I have had the privilege of interviewing so many notable women in such diverse fields in STEM, from cardiologists to information technologists to engineers. It is a pleasure to share these interviews below.
Sydney Floryanzia
Sydney Floryanzia is a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington where her research uses chemical engineering to develop and improve medicine for the brain. As a child, Sydney was drawn to the idea of “Reverse-Engineering the Brain” and how music and the brain are linked. She currently investigates the blood-brain barrier, drug delivery to the brain, and therapies for age-related brain diseases. Sydney is a Science Communicator and advocates for diversity in STEM. She has shared her experiences as a black woman in engineering in a TEDxTeen talk, a Chevron Superbowl Commercial, news articles, and podcasts.
Kimberley Chapelle
Kimberley Chapelle is a vertebrate palaeontologist from South Africa, currently doing a postdoctoral fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Plant eating dinosaurs are her favourite, especially the baby ones! Her research has mainly focused on basal sauropodomorphs, the ancestors to well-loved giants like Diplodocus. Using a multidisciplinary approach that includes CT-scanning, osteohistology (looking at bones under a microscope), functional and comparative anatomy, statistics, and more, she explores how these creatures grow, move, and evolve.
Lauren Williams
Lauren Williams graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. While at Rutgers, Williams interned at Goldman Sachs and was involved in the Society of Women Engineers. Upon graduating, Williams began working full-time at Goldman Sachs as a software engineering associate.
Jordyn Chuhaloff
Jordyn Chuhaloff is a Senior Frontend Engineer at Stellar Development Foundation. Nearly half of her time in tech has been spent in crypto because she believes it holds great untapped potential. She is drawn to projects that provide social good, as well as creative endeavors with a good aesthetic.
Samantha Thuilot
Samantha Thuilot is an Account Manager at Kobo Products, a raw material supplier. She was born and raised in NYC and had a passion for science from an early age. Samantha started as a skincare and haircare formulator with different brands and for Mana Products. Now, she applies her knowledge in the Personal Care industry. When she's not working, Samantha enjoys going to the beach, snowboarding, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.
Olga Batygin
Olga Batygin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lucinetic. With a background in molecular biology research and expertise in tech startups, corporations, as well as academia, she is an accomplished leader with more than a decade of experience in operations, administration, and communications. She is a longtime member of Caltech’s community and is a member of several Boards. Olga’s interest lies in the intersection of technology and social impacts in unique ecosystems. She loves to build from the ground up and design mission-driven programs that enable exponential growth.
Pooja Rane
Pooja Rane is an engineering manager at Google with 13+ years of experience leading teams and delivering products. She currently manages a strong engineering team with a focus on building software systems and innovating technologies using agile software development for Google Cloud. She previously worked as the Senior Vice President of Finance Engineering at Goldman Sachs, where she was responsible for product and program management for multiple loan initiatives coordinating with several business and engineering teams. Pooja is an active member of Women in Engineering and is passionate about mentoring women to build their engineering careers.
Nancy Choi
Nancy Choi joined Natural Systems Utilities (NSU) in 2020 as a Project Director, managing projects from the development of prospects through the completion of design and construction with a focus on water reuse projects involving Design, Build and/or Operations. She is a licensed Professional Engineer and a LEED Accredited Professional holding BS and MEng degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Environmental Engineering. Prior to joining NSU, Nancy worked on numerous multidisciplinary projects worldwide, focused on a holistic approach to integrating all aspects of the urban water cycle.
Vlada Bortnik
Vlada Bortnik is co-founder and CEO of Marco Polo, the popular video communication app that is changing the paradigm about how we stay in touch for millions. An immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Vlada’s path to Silicon Valley is one of determination and steadfast passion for building something that could make the world happier. Vlada’s approach to life as a busy mom and tech CEO is grounded in mindfulness and meditation, and her philosophy of working joyfully and purposefully integrates into Marco Polo.
Allison Bronson
Allison Bronson is a fish evolutionary anatomist, who is particularly interested in chondrichthyans (sharks, rays, and their relatives). Allison is now a lecturer at HSU, where her research program combines traditional anatomy techniques with new CT scanning methods to study the morphology of both living and fossil fishes. In the past, Dr. Bronson has worked on numerous projects in diverse disciplines, including the olfaction of toxic newts, description of Cretaceous fungi and Devonian plants, and ecology of predatory marine snails.
Alissa Bans
Alissa Bans completed her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago in 2013. Prior to joining the Emory Physics Department in Fall 2017, Dr. Bans was a postdoctoral fellow at the Adler Planetarium and a visiting professor at Valparaiso University. Her research interests are focused on how solar systems form and evolve. She is currently a science team member of Disk Detective, a NASA-lead citizen science project designed to find young star systems across the sky. Dr. Bans's primary passion is education and outreach; she's committed to bringing authentic science experiences into the classroom and enjoys working with undergraduate students on research.
Alice Yang
Alice Yang is a multi-disciplinary creative based in San Francisco who has spent the past few years illustrating and art directing in tech. In an earlier life, she made the rounds as a software engineer and then as a product designer. Art and learning have always been a big part of her life, and she is now enjoying the best of both worlds as Head of Art at Brilliant.
Maria Miranda
Maria Miranda is a Research Specialist at 3M, where she works on the development and scale-up of new adhesives for use in 3M products. She grew up in Colorado and attended college at Boston University where she majored in chemistry. After graduating from BU, she attended the University of Minnesota where she received her PhD in chemistry. During her PhD, Dr. Miranda worked on understanding how renewable plastics are made at the molecular level, as well as developing new routes to making chemical building blocks from renewable resources.
Flor Serna
Flor Serna is the co-founder and former executive director of Electric Girls, a New Orleans based non-profit with the mission of increasing girls confidence and capabilities through STEM. Flor founded Electric Girls after her experiences as a recording engineer in a male dominated field. Flor serves as the board treasurer for Electric Girls now, and in her day-to-day is a product manager for a technology consulting firm. She lives in northern New Mexico with her cat, Muncher and enjoys recording music and hiking in her free time.
Nieca Goldberg
Nieca Goldberg is the Senior Advisor of Women’s Health Strategy at NYU Langone, and the Founder and Former Medical Director at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health at the NYU Langone Medical Center. Goldberg was previously Chief of the Women’s Heart Program at Lenox Hill Hospital and the founder of Total Heart Care in New York, which focuses on women's health care. Goldberg is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine.
Alex Wolfe
Alex Wolfe is an Engineering Manager at Coinbase and is a technology creator interested in the intersection of art, code, and the internet. She graduated with a Computer Science and Fine Art degree from Carnegie Mellon, and fled the East Coast to seek her fortune in the Silicon Valley. Wolfe currently leads a team of fifteen engineers focused on introducing new users to the crypto ecosystem from a dreamy boho loft in Oakland California.