Science community

Women in Network Science (WiNS) · 2021–2025

Co-organiser of the WiNS satellite event at the 2021 Networks conference (joint Sunbelt/NetSci).

Hosted the panel discussion on 1 July 2021 — Gender bias in academia: what can our communities and professional societies do to address it?

  • Dr. Brooke Foucault Welles — Founder, WiNS
  • Dr. Laura Koehly — President, International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)
  • Dr. Ann McCranie — Organiser, Networks 2021
  • Dr. Yamir Moreno — President, Network Science Society
  • Dr. Alice Schwarze — President, WiNS
  • Dr. Cassidy Sugimoto — President, International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics

Panel recording from 3:41:40

WiNS@Networks2021 event schedule — June 30 and July 1, 2021

WiNS Satellite @ Networks 2021

From 2022 to 2025, served as Industry Ambassador for WiNS, bridging applied machine learning and academic network science.

APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics · Virginia Tech, USA · January 2017

The American Physical Society (APS) hosts CUWiP — the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics — simultaneously at universities across the United States each January. One of the few large-scale national efforts dedicated to undergraduate women in physics, CUWiP brings together students, graduate researchers, and faculty to share experiences, hear from women working across academia and industry, and build networks with peers from across the country.

The Virginia Tech edition, organised by Prof. Lara Anderson and Prof. Giti Khodaparast, drew nearly 150 students from universities across the region. Contributed to the conference organisation and logistics — coordinating scheduling, space, and materials across a two-day programme.

Spoke on the Graduate Student Panel — sharing what it means to pursue a physics PhD as a woman, at a time when female researchers remain underrepresented in the field.

Coverage: Virginia Tech News · College of Science magazine · Conference schedule

“You did an amazing job during conference.” Prof. Giti Khodaparast · Department of Physics, Virginia Tech · January 2017

Group photo at APS CUWiP 2017, Virginia Tech

APS CUWiP 2017, Virginia Tech, USA

Physics outreach · Virginia Tech, USA · 2015–2018

Contributed to the physics department’s school outreach programme at Virginia Tech — bringing hands-on demonstrations to local middle and high school students. Demonstrations included the Doppler effect and resonance in waves and sound: using open and closed pipes of different lengths to show how boundary conditions determine the frequencies a tube can sustain, making abstract wave theory tangible and audible for students encountering it for the first time.

The connection to musical instruments is direct. An open pipe — open at both ends, like a flute — supports all harmonics, giving a bright, full sound. A closed pipe — sealed at one end, like a clarinet — supports only odd harmonics, producing a rounder, more hollow timbre. The same physics that determines which notes a pipe can produce also determines the character of every woodwind instrument.

Standing wave diagrams and instruments: open pipe with bansuri bamboo flute, and closed pipe with clarinet
Open pipe · bansuri (bamboo flute) Closed pipe · clarinet

Public talks & articles

Writing on Medium

An ongoing series of technical articles on Medium covering data science, machine learning, and AI — written for practitioners and those entering the field. The aim is to make rigorous methods accessible: building intuition before formalism, and grounding techniques in concrete examples drawn from applied work.

Published work includes NLP fuzzy matching algorithms for approximate string comparison and record linkage, and regression and statistical methods in R. Several pieces began as companion articles to talks, extending the material beyond the live audience.

Women Who Code · San Francisco, USA · 2021

Women Who Code (WWCode) is a global non-profit with chapters across dozens of cities, supporting women in technology through coding workshops, speaker events, and community networking. The San Francisco chapter draws engineers, data scientists, and technologists across career stages — from early-career practitioners to senior engineers working across industry.

Three talks for the chapter over the course of 2021:

Women in Machine Learning and Data Science · Bay Area, USA · August 2023

Women in Machine Learning and Data Science (WiMDS) is a global non-profit with chapters in over 30 cities, fostering a supportive community for women and allies working in machine learning and data science through talks, networking, and mentoring.

Invited speaker at the San Francisco Bay Area chapter event in August 2023 — presenting on Implementing Topic Modeling in the Industry.

Academic service

Peer review

Community Change · Associate Editor · 2017–2018

Community Change is an interdisciplinary academic journal publishing research on social equity, community development, and public policy. Served as Associate Editor during doctoral studies at Virginia Tech — contributing to manuscript review and editorial decisions.

Culture & community

Diwali at Slalom · New York, USA · 2022–present

Co-organiser of the annual Diwali celebration — an Indian festival of lights — for Slalom’s New York office since 2022, one of the most highly anticipated events of the year for the office. Working with a small team and a modest budget, the logistics meant making every detail count: sourcing food from local restaurants to fit everyone’s dietary needs and keeping decorations simple yet festive. In the early years, a community potluck rounded out the spread — colleagues bringing dishes from home turned a budget constraint into something that felt genuinely collaborative.

One favourite touch: setting up a large whiteboard where colleagues wrote “Happy Diwali” in every language spoken across the team — a small gesture that made the celebration feel genuinely inclusive for everyone.