Brandeis Marshall, PhD

Our guest today is a skilled explainer who has a knack of making difficult concepts easier to understand, regardless of a person's educational background.

She's a computer scientist who remains curious about how data flows through digital environments and its impact on the racial, gendered, and socioeconomic impact in technology.

She’s passionate about educating anyone on all things data - especially those who like learning, as well as promoting diversity within computing and data science.

She has nearly 15 years experience in higher education, including 10 years teaching databases and data-related courses, having secured over $1.2M from federal and industry funded sources.

She has also served as the principal or co-principal investigator, in data science education, cybersecurity education and diversifying computing initiatives.

As a scholar and educator, she has been a leader and contributor to activities that support data literacy and understanding, sharing best data practices, and broadening participation in tech - particularly in computer science and data science.

Her research areas include information retrieval and knowledge management for effective assessment and summarization of data in order to create valuable knowledge through labelled, unlabeled, and fixed-length data analysis; with specializations in topics ranging from data mining and social media for applications within information assurance, and aviation.

She’s been involved in a number of projects, workshops, and organizations that support data literacy and understanding, sharing best data practices and broadening participation in data science - including the design of data science pedagogy for marginalized communities, and the assessment of the socio-technical impact of BlackTwitter.

She earned a Bachelor of Computer Science from University of Rochester, a Master of Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and has gone on to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science, also from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

She served as Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University, Chair of Computer and Information Sciences at Spelman College, and is currently a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

She’s also the CEO of DataedX (Data-ed-x), an edtech consultancy firm dedicated to cultivating data competency and providing workforce development training within the data space.

Since 2009, she has been actively engaged in mentoring the next generation of STEM professionals, particularly those from under-represented groups.

This engagement has included, but DEFINITELY NOT limited to: serving on the program committees for the ACM Richard Tapia Diversity in Computing Conference, Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education.

So please, help me in welcoming our very special guest today - a woman who is a beacon of light for the growing numbers of Black and Brown women pursuing higher education and PhDs in Computer Science and Data Science. A scholar, an educator, and a strategist - Dr. Brandeis Marshall!