Celebrate All Scientists: Dr. Rana el Kaliouby
March is Women’s History Month, and LSC celebrates AI thought leader, Machine Learning scientist, entrepreneur, and author, Dr. Rana el Kaliouby.
She is the Deputy CEO at Smart Eye, former co-founder and CEO of Affectiva, and author of Girl Decoded: A Scientist’s Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology.
Technology has always been a part of el Kaliouby’s life. Her parents were technologists who met in a programming class. She recalls her father getting an Atari for the family and then insisting they figure out how it worked. El Kaliouby discovered she was less interested in the technology of the gaming system and more interested in its ability to bring her family closer together. That was the beginning of her recognizing the emotional connection possible with technology.
Influenced by her family and childhood experiences, she pursued a career in computer science. She earned a BS and MS from the American University of Cairo and a PhD in Computer Science from Newnham College, Cambridge. She also holds a Post Doctorate from MIT.
While working on her PhD, el Kaliouby read a book, Affective Computing, that affirmed and fueled her interest in human connection and technology. She partnered with the book’s author, Dr. Rosalind Picard, to found Affectiva, a spin-off company from the MIT Media Lab’s Affective Computing division, where el Kaliouby was working on pioneering emotion technology through software expressions for applications in mental health and autism studies.
Dubbed the mother of emotion recognition technology, el Kaliouby is a trailblazer recognized on Fortune’s 40 Under 40, and named one of Forbes America’s Top 50 Women in Tech. She has received the Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award in Technology, is a TED speaker, and co-hosts a PBS NOVA series on AI.
El Kaliouby knows she is one of the few women leaders in AI. She passionately advocates for more diversity and inclusion in tech and leadership. She serves on several boards and committees that work to improve equity and access in the industry.
El Kaliouby believes humanizing technology is necessary for the co-evolution of humans and technology. She has dedicated more than twenty years to pioneering this frontier of artificial intelligence, and will continue to change the world by leveraging technology to amplify the power of human connection. She encourages everyone to “embrace your emotions.”
Learn more about Dr. Rana el Kaliouby at her website.
