Category: Women in CS

The Grace Series honors the contributions of real-life women in science with the goal of inspiring and encouraging more of them to pursue STEM careers. The Grace Series introduced its second speaker, Chief Technology Officer & SVP for Catalyst Corporate Credit Union, Diana Hennel. Ms. Hennel currently serves as Chief Technology Officer for Catalyst Corporate Credit Union.  She prides herself on building strong teams and delivering innovative, industry-changing software.  Over the course of her thirty-year career, her teams have modernized the check processing industry, streamlined financial operations for the National Bank of Singapore, and experimented with cryptocurrency for credit unions.  She was recently recognized as one of Dallas’ leading women in technology for her innovative work in bringing digital products to market.  Outside of work, she lives in Frisco with her husband of twenty years and her identical twin boys.  Diana is heavily involved in her community, including serving as a board member of High Tech High Heels, an organization dedicated to growing women in STEM.  

Via IEEE Computer Society – Bhavani Thuraisingham’s impact transcends excellence within education, as she has made countless efforts within bridging the gaps between industry and academics. Additionally, she is the Founders Chair Professor of Computer Science, the Founding Executive Director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Institute (2004-2021), and the Co-Director of the Women in Cyber Security and Women in Data Science Centers at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also a visiting senior research fellow at King’s College, the University of London.

Computer science and software engineering PhD holders today enjoy a great variety of employment prospects. Opportunities are ample, ranging from working in research and product development divisions of companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, to becoming faculty members in academia to working for or creating their own technology startup. Higher-level positions at companies are also becoming more accessible to computer science and software engineering PhD graduates, as it is common for employers to reserve their top-ranked positions for doctoral degree holders. With the following interview series, we hope to engage students who want to learn more about the PhD program by learning about those who have gone through it.

The UT Dallas CS Department continued its Spring’23 Grace Series talks with Pallabi Parveen, a Principal-Big Data Software Engineer at AT&T. Pallabi earned her Ph.D. from UT Dallas while under the supervision of Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham. The Grace Series recognizes women and their accomplishments with empowering talks that aim to foster a community for female technologists as well as grow the number of women and non-binary people in technology. These talks are intended to offer fresh perspectives and different approaches for women to navigate the technology field, whether in academia or industry. Since its inception, 40 speakers have given talks.

As technology trends show, the tech industry is always one step ahead regarding innovation. However, one region seems to be lagging behind—gender diversity. The World Bank reports that globally women make up less than 40% of the global workforce. Women are consistently highly underrepresented in the technology field. Women in the tech industry face many challenges, from education to employment and business. In order to help foster a stronger community for women in tech, the UT Dallas Computer Science Department has hosted a monthly lecture series called the Grace Series since the Fall of 2015. Since its inception, 39 speakers have given talks. The Grace Series recognizes women and their accomplishments. The Grace Series aims to offer fresh perspectives and different approaches for women to navigate the technology field, whether in academia or industry. The second spring 2023 Grace Series speaker featured Saritha Reddy, Cybersecurity Leader and Director, Product Security at Capital One and UT Dallas CS Alumna.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, Founders Chair in Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas, will receive the 2023 IEEE Computer Society Taylor L. Booth Education Award for her leadership in cybersecurity education, data science education and mentorship of members of systemically marginalized groups.

In order to help foster a stronger community for women in tech, the UT Dallas Computer Science Department has hosted a monthly lecture series called the Grace Series since the Fall of 2015. The Grace Series recognizes women and their accomplishments. The Grace Series aims to offer fresh perspectives and different approaches to navigating the technology field, whether it be in academia or industry. The Spring 2023 Grace Series has started off this semester with Dr. Ling Liu of the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, Founders Chair Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, was honored with the 2022 Women in Cloud Computing Award by the IEEE CS TCCLD in December 2022. As stated by IEEE CS, TCCLD “provides a forum for members to broaden professional contacts, facilitates information exchange, and stimulates the growth of research, education, and industry in cloud computing.” The Women in Computing Award “Recognizes women leaders who have made outstanding, influential, and potentially long-lasting contributions in the field of cloud computing and solve real problems.” Thuraisingham has spent the past 16 years conducting research, education, and outreach activities in Secure Cloud Computing. She received this award for “Pioneering Contributions in Secure Cloud Computing with Applications in Big Data Security and Privacy and for mentoring Women in Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, and Data Science.”

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham Participates In A High-Profile Panel On Cyber Risk And Resilience Hosted By The World-Renowned Lloyds Of London Insurance Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham, Founders Chair Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) and a leading cyber security expert, recently participated in a high profile panel on Cyber Risk […]

Engineering and computer science — two of the most lucrative STEM fields — remain heavily male-dominated. Only 21% of engineering majors and 19% of computer science majors are women. In order to help foster a stronger community for women in tech, the UT Dallas Computer Science Department has hosted a monthly lecture series called the […]