Presidential Panel Discussion: Women in Engineering
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Stony Brook University, Main Campus
Student Activities Center, Sidney Gelber Auditorium 9 am–10:30 am
Join President Goldsmith and a panel of leaders from across the engineering profession
who will reflect on their professional journeys, what exciting technologies lie on
the horizon and how powerful technologies can be harnessed to benefit humanity while
avoiding their pitfalls. Tickets are required.
Panelists
Jennifer Cochran
Jennifer Cochran is vice president for the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory operated by Stanford University on behalf of the DOE Office of Science, and is vice president for Strategic Initiatives at Stanford University. She was was recruited to Stanford University in 2005 as one of the founding faculty members in the Department of Bioengineering, where she is the Addie and Al Macovski Professor of Bioengineering, and (by courtesy) Chemical Engineering.
Cochran's research and translational activities focus on developing novel engineered protein therapeutics for oncology, autoimmunity, and regenerative medicine. In addition to contributing to more than 120 published works, she is a serial innovator and a named inventor on over fifty issued and pending patents.
In 2020 Cochran co-founded Red Tree Venture Capital, a west coast-focused life sciences investment fund, and currently serves as its chief scientific advisor. Leveraging her experience as a entrepreneur, investor, and board member, she enjoys mentoring students, postdocs, and faculty on technology transfer and biotech company formation as part of Stanford’s translational programs. She also brings her expertise in drug discovery and development to her role as faculty director of the Protein Therapeutics Initiative of the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (2021-present).
Other leadership roles Cochran has held at Stanford include senior associate vice provost for research (2023-2026), chair of the Department of Bioengineering (2017-2022), and co-director of the Stanford/NIH Biotechnology pre-doctoral training program (2014-present).
Cochran holds a PhD in biological chemistry from MIT and completed postdoctoral fellowships at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania in biological engineering and molecular biophysics, respectively. She was inducted as a fellow to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the National Academy of Engineering, the latter with a citation for “contributions to biopharmaceutical protein discovery and development, biotechnology entrepreneurship, and leadership in academic bioengineering.”
Ayanna Howard
Ayanna Howard is an innovator, entrepreneur, leader, and international expert in robotics and AI. She is also the author of the upcoming book – Rebooting the Machines: A New Human Vision for Artificial Intelligence. Currently, Howard is the Dean of Engineering at The Ohio State University and Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean's Chair. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors for Autodesk and Motorola Solutions.
Prior to Ohio State, Howard was the Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Previously, she was at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she held the title of Senior Robotics Researcher and Deputy Manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist. Her research encompasses advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), assistive technologies, and robotics, and has resulted in over 275 publications. At NASA, she worked on designing advanced technologies for future Mars rover missions. Now, she works on projects ranging from healthcare robots to developing methods to mitigate bias and trust in AI.
Howard’s unique accomplishments have been featured in various prominent publications, including Vanity Fair, USA Today, Forbes 50 over 50, and TIME. Business Insider recognized her as one of the 23 most powerful women engineers globally, and WomenInc. named her one of the most influential women corporate board directors. She has appeared on ABC’s The View, the Amazon Prime series Luminaries, and in the IMAX movie Superhuman Body.
A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), Howard is also an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and appointed to the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC). She regularly advises on robotics, AI, and workforce development, serving as a media expert for outlets like CNN and NPR, and participating in interviews and podcasts with PBS, Discovery Channel, BBC, and Huffington Post.
Howard holds a degree from Brown University, a MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, as well as an MBA from the Drucker Graduate School of Management.
Muriel Médard
Muriel Médard holds the NEC Chair of Software Science and Engineering for the School of Engineering at MIT and is a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, where she leads the Network Coding and Reliable Communications Group in the Research Laboratory for Electronics. She obtained three bachelors degrees, her MS.S. and ScD, all from MIT.
Médard is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (elected 2022), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 2021), the US National Academy of Engineering (elected 2020). She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (elected 2025), the US National Academy of Inventors (elected 2018), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (elected 2008).
Médard was awarded the 2022 IEEE Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award and the 2026 IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal. She received the 2019 Best Paper award for IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, the 2018 ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Paper Award, as well as nine conference paper awards. She served as the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and IEEE JSAC. She was elected president of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 2012, and served on its board of governors for a dozen years.
Médard supervised over 40 master’s students, over 25 doctoral students, and over 30 postdoctoral fellows. She received the inaugural 2013 MIT EECS Graduate Student Association Mentor Award, voted by the students. She also received the inaugural MIT Postdoctoral Association (PDA) Mentor Award, noted by all current and post postdocs of MIT. She set up the Women in the Information Theory Society (WithITS) and Information Theory Society Mentoring Program, for which she was recognized with the 2017 Aaron Wyner Distinguished Service Award.
Médard's research in communications has led to the co-founding of three companies (Optimum, CodeOn, and Nanoping) and the filing of over 80 US and international patents, most of which have been commercially licensed or acquired.
Manuela M. Veloso
For the last 8 years, Manuela Veloso was the founder and Head of JPMorganChase AI Research & Herbert A. Simon University Professor Emerita at Carnegie Mellon University, where she was faculty in the Computer Science Department and then Head of the Machine Learning Department.
At JPMorganChase, she built a team of 100 top talented members with graduate education (PhD and Masters) in AI and related disciplines. The team focused on pillar areas of AI in finance, including data-driven optimization, planning and search, document analysis, trustworthy AI, AI and mathematical reasoning, continual learning, and multiagent systems. The team published their research in academic venues and addressed and contributed to business needs and vision.
Veloso has a licenciatura degree in Electrical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, an M.A. in Computer Science from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Veloso has Doctorate Honoris Causa degrees from the Örebro University, Sweden, the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Portugal, the Université de Bordeaux, France, and the Universidade Católica of Portugal.
She served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and she is co-founder and a Past President of the RoboCup Federation. She is a fellow of main professional organizations in her area, namely AAAI, IEEE, AAAS, and ACM. She is the recipient of the ACM/SIGART Autonomous Agents Research Award, the Einstein Chair of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an NSF Career Award, and the Allen Newell Medal for Excellence in Research.
Veloso is a member of the National Academy of Engineering with a citation “for contributions to artificial intelligence and its applications in robotics and the financial services industry.” She is also a member of the Academy of Sciences of Portugal. Her research interests are in AI, including Multiagent Systems, Autonomous Robots, Continual Learning Agents, and AI in Finance.
Telle Whitney
Telle Whitney is a senior executive leader, an entrepreneur, an author, and a recognized advocate and expert on women and technology. She has over 30 years of leadership experience and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of Women and Technology, an accomplished technologist who spent 20 years in the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley. Whitney has been called “a pioneer for the promotion of women technologists” and “one of the most inspirational leaders I have ever known.”
Whitney co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference in 1994 and was CEO of the non-profit Anita Borg Institute from 2002 to September 2017. She transformed the Institute into a recognized world leader for women and technology. Before that she served in leadership positions at several semiconductor startups.
She is the author of Rebooting Tech Culture, How to Ignite Innovation and Build Organizations Where Everyone Can Thrive, which explores the practices that executives use to create organizational cultures that are both innovative and inclusive.
Whitney has won numerous awards, including the ACM Distinguished Service Award, an honorary degree from CMU and an honorary membership of IEEE. In 2024, the REC Foundation recognized her as a STEM Hero. She co-founded the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). In 2022, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Whitney serves on the board of AI4All, CMD-IT, and Power and Systems and consults for numerous technology organizations. She holds a PhD and MS in computer science from the California Institute of Technology and a BS in computer science from the University of Utah.
