In celebration of International Women’s Day, we have made a list of some of the amazing women in tech. Of course, there are hundreds more so please don’t worry if your favourite lady doesn’t feature!
Edith Clarke
Born in 1883, Clarke studied mathematics and astronomy before becoming a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin. After also earning a master’s in electrical engineering, Clarke filed a patent for her ‘graphical calculator’. The calculator was used to solve electric power transmission line problems. The engineer also made history by becoming the first female electrical engineering professor in the US in 1947.
Yoky Matsuoka
Before working for big names including Apple, Google and Nest, Matsuoka received awards for her work in robotics and neuroscience. With the grant she went on to found a non-profit organisation. The NGO focused on removing reading barriers for children with physical and learning challenges.
Matsuoka also founded the Centre for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and Neurobotics Laboratory. This centre works to create devices that can restore sensation and movement in human bodies. Since then she has gone onto work in innovation and health, and now run independent Panasonic subsidiary Yohana.
Kristina M Johnson
Among other achievements, Johnson is known for her research in optoelectronics. While working with Empire State Development, she signed many industry partnerships with companies including IBM and Applied Materials.
Since then, she has co-founded organisations including ColorLink, which later became part of RealD, responsible for the Real3-D system using in hundreds of movies, including Avatar. Johnson has also done a lot of revolutionary work in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure.
Caroline Haslett
Haslett was instrumental in opening the world of engineering up to women. The women’s right campaigner was born in 1895, and only 19 years later she was working for an engineering firm that made steam boilers. In the following years she joined the Women’s Engineering Society, then the Director of the Electrical Association for Women.
Later in life Haslett was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Melonee Wise
As CEO of Fetch Robotics, Wise spent her days researching, developing, and delivering robotics for the logistics industry. Since then, Fetch has been acquired by Zebra Technologies, and Wise has become VP and General Manager of Robotics Automation.
She has featured in Business Insider and the Silicon Valley Business Journal for achieving so much at a young age. Wise’s speciality is in Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for warehousing and logistics.
Lisa Su
Dr Su is chair and CEO of AMD. She joined the company in 2012 as senior VP and general manager. Prior to this, Su worked at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in the areas of global strategy, marketing and engineering.
Before this, Dr Su spent years working for Texas Instruments and IBM. In 2018 she received the Global Semiconductor Association’s Dr Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award.
Lalitha Suryanarayana
Recently Suryanarayana has joined the Global Semiconductor Alliance Women’s Leadership Council. Alongside that, she is VP, Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions at Infineon Technologies. Previously, Suryanarayana was senior director for Qualcomm Technologies, and before that worked at AT&T.
Debora Shoquist
Shoquist is executive VP of operations at NVIDIA, and is responsible for the company’s IT, operations and supply chain functions. She is also overseeing construction of the company’s new building at its Santa Clara headquarters, worth $360-380 million.
After joining NVIDIA in 2007, it only took her two years to move from senior VP to executive VP. Before that she worked at Quantum, Coherent, and JDS Uniphase.
Ann B Kelleher
As executive VP and general manager of Technology Development at Intel, Dr Kelleher is responsible for research, development and deployment of next-gen silicon logic, packaging and test technologies.
Kelleher started her electronics leadership journey in Ireland working for Intel’s Fab 24. She later moved to the US to manage the company’s Fab 12 facility in Chandler, Arizona.
Recognition
We know how important it is to recognise all of our staff, both male and female, and the contributions they make to the company and society. That is why International Women’s Day, and other celebrations like it, are so important to us. To find out more about International Women’s Day, follow this link.
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