Amy Fouts

Amy Fouts is a security analyst for the Information Security Office at Northern Arizona University (NAU). NAU serves a diverse population of students both from Arizona and around the world providing a world-class education from its picturesque location in Flagstaff. Amy recently joined the Identity and Access team but brings with her years of experience in business analysis, customer relationship management, and problem-solving focus. Providing coordination, research, and analysis, Amy helps ensure NAU provides the best possible service for the University Campus Community while balancing the risks and complications brought on by the rapidly changing technology field.

Irene Lobos

Irene Lobos is a senior network engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, which is one of the world’s leading institutions of higher education, distinguished by its combination of internationally recognized academic and research excellence. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in electronics and computer science from UFM/UG, Guatemala. After graduation, she took some courses in a newly opened network academy at her alma mater and received various industry certifications, allowing her to find positions in mobile and telecommunication companies, before joining UC Berkeley IT. There she works in the access network for the campus, collaborating with project managers, internal customers, and teams to get network accessibility for buildings and new projects. Her team also handles customer requests, support, and incident response. She enjoys assisting the campus customers and teams at UC Berkeley, so much so that she feels a sense of pride when its research and academic groups get high honors in their fields. In her spare time, she studies data analytics, enjoys reading both in English and Spanish, hiking, collecting Native American contemporary art, and is interested in botany and world cuisine.

Yamini Lakshmi Narasimhan

Yamini Lakshmi Narasimhan is a master’s student in computer science at New York University (NYU). She is also currently working with the NYU IT department as a business analyst intern where she works with various analytics and cloud monitoring dashboards. She has a couple of years of industrial experience as a machine learning engineer and over two years of research experience as a student. She understands the need to bridge the gap between university projects and industry trends in terms of cloud deployments and scalability. With that motivation in mind, she is the current president of the NYU Machine Learning Club. She coordinates with other students to talk about the latest technologies and also organizes various events in collaboration with tech companies like Pinterest. She’s also extremely passionate about Women in Tech, especially in particular fields like machine learning, and through her club encourages other women to pursue such careers.

Stephania Oates

Ms. Stephania Oates is the unified communications manager in the Network Infrastructure unit at Fayetteville State University (FSU) and has been employed at FSU for approximately eight years. She is an information technology service professional who implements, manages, troubleshoots, and improves the university’s unified communication, faxing, mobile, emergency, and data analysis systems to maintain business continuity onsite and remotely. She implements cost-effective solutions by working as the project manager and communicating to stakeholders, clients, and vendors the university’s business needs.  Additionally, she acts as the liaison for the end user and the university’s technical partners.  She ensures all stakeholders are equipped with training and/or material to execute the use of the new business tools and technology. Founded in 1867, FSU is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina System and the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state. FSU is a historically black university offering degrees at the baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral levels. With nearly 7,000 students, FSU is among the most diverse institutions in the nation.

Stacie Pretty On Top

Stacie Pretty On Top currently serves as the information technology operations manager at Salish Kootenai College (SKC), a tribal college situated on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Pablo, Montana. She joined the SKC IT Department as an intern in 2003, and since then has worked her way up the ladder, serving as IT department assistant director, systems administrator, and database management instructor, before assuming her current position in 2020. Stacie hails from the Colville Confederated Tribes, located along the Columbia River in Washington state, where she began her IT career as a computer coordinator for the Colville Tribe and Nespelem School District.

“My educational and professional journey would not be possible if it weren’t for Tribal Colleges, specifically, Salish Kootenai College. The mentoring I received gave me the guidance and confidence to continually grow in all aspects of the tech field. Because of my experience, SKC and the community will always live in my heart and it’s my responsibility to give back by helping students to become successful in their journey because it can be just as life-changing as my experience is.”

Anna Liza Smith

Anna Liza Smith’s passion for computing developed at an early age, after being introduced to MS-DOS in a junior high Magnet program. Since then, she has kept a keen eye on emerging technologies and remained curious about new developments in the field. She is a dedicated and skilled professional in the field of computing, specifically in network infrastructure. She is currently working as a network management system administrator in the Network Integration and Monitoring Services group, a division of the University of California, San Diego’s IT Services, where she is responsible for delivering central computing services to the campus community. Anna Liza recognizes the value of different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in driving innovation and problem-solving, and is committed to fostering a culture of inclusivity and diversity in all aspects of her work.

Sapana Paritosh Soni

Sapana Paritosh Soni is an HPC user services consultant at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), California. Sapana worked in geographically diverse places during her research career, starting as a Ph.D. student in India and then working in the United Arab Emirates as a science teacher and post-doctoral researcher in Switzerland and the United States. Currently, she assists researchers at UC Berkeley and LBNL in resolving run-time issues, software installation, and advising on parallel processing on CPUs and GPUs. Having a research background helps her understand the technological needs of researchers and provide the best possible advice by coordinating with system administrators. She is responsible for onboarding new users on the HPC system by providing them with training each semester. Sapana’s passion for learning new technologies and teaching helped her find this new career path. In her outreach activity, Sapana likes sharing her experiences as a working mom and encouraging women to career paths in STEAM. She enjoys cooking, hiking, and practicing yoga in her free time.