Details

Several events over the last few years have led to a watershed moment in computing, where more focus is shifting to the impacts of technologies on identities that are marginalized based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability and/or socioeconomic status. While these perspectives are new to some, for others they reflect longstanding, personal experiences not only as technology consumers, but also as technology creators navigating academic and professional environments.

Successfully addressing and preventing technological harm to the most vulnerable communities requires addressing and preventing the harm those same communities experience in computing classrooms and organizations. This demands a paradigm shift in not only what is considered computing knowledge but also in who is considered a knowledge producer.

Washington will discuss the importance of technology disruption from the lens of people, policies and practices in computing environments, including how they impact technical innovation, why computing doesn't exist in a vacuum and what we all can do to create and advocate for more disruption in spaces we navigate.

Speaker

Nicki Washington is a professor of the practice of computer science and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Duke University and the author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech Field. She is the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program and the NSF-funded Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education. She also serves as senior personnel for the NSF-funded Athena Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her career in higher education began at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her professional experience also includes Winthrop University, The Aerospace Corporation and IBM. She is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University (B.S., ’00) and North Carolina State University (M.S., ’02; PhD, ’05), becoming the first Black woman to earn a PhD in computer science at the university and 2019 Computer Science Hall of Fame inductee. She is a native of Durham, North Carolina.

This talk is sponsored by Harvey Mudd College (Office if Institutional Diversity, Department of Computer Science, IDEA Committee) and Pomona College Computer Science Department