Tara Astigarraga is a Native American software engineer. She is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. [1]
Astigarraga was born and raised in Arizona. While attending the University of Arizona she studied to become a Spanish linguistics and communications major. [2] In her early college days she aspired to become both a bilingual teacher and a social worker. [1] While at the University of Arizona she developed a passion for helping others which led to her being an advisory board member with the corporate group titled AISES, which is a non profit organization that is helping to increase the representation in STEM careers within underrepresented groups. [1] Astigarraga also completed her master's degree in Computer Information Systems. [3]
While in college she enrolled in the University’s cooperative education program. Through this program she was offered a internship with IBM Systems Group. [1] Her internship work at IBM gave her perceptive in STEM and sparked her software engineering journey. She also served as the Vice President of the Tucson Native American Diversity Network through building a virtual mentorship connections for IBM Native American employees and Native American students. [3]
In 2008, she received her first patent and today, she owns 80 over patents. [4]
She has been named an IBM Master Inventor for work with 75 patents including network, storage, security, and blockchain. [2] She has also been profiled in a children's book titled Who is a scientist? authored by Laura Gehl. [5]
Tara and her husband Julio have two daughters and live in Raleigh, North Carolina. [1]
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an idea is unique enough either as a stand-alone invention or as a significant improvement over the work of others, it can be patented. A patent, if granted, gives the inventor a proprietary interest in the patent over a specific period of time, which can be licensed for financial gain.
Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Latina woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. She was the first Latina director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.
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Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and copyright reform in particular.
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Amanda Blackhorse is a social worker and member of the Navajo people who is known for her work as an activist on the Washington Redskins name controversy. She is the lead plaintiff in Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc.
Chieko Asakawa is a blind Japanese computer scientist, known for her work at IBM Research – Tokyo in accessibility. A Netscape browser plug-in she developed, the IBM Home Page Reader, became the most widely used web-to-speech system available. She is the recipient of numerous industry and government awards.
Jian (Jane) Xu is a software engineer from China. She has served as engineer at IBM and as the chief technology officer (CTO) of China Systems and Technology Labs at IBM.
Mukta Ghate Farooq is an Indian metallurgical engineer of Marathi descent working for the IBM Corporation in Hopewell Junction, New York. She was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2016 for her contributions to 3D integration and interconnect technology. She is currently a Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM Research and has over 220 issued US patents including patent numbers 10199315, 20180061749, and 8367543. In 2017, IIT Bombay awarded her the notable alumna award
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Dr. Krystal Tsosie (Diné) is a Navajo geneticist and bioethicist at Arizona State University and activist for Indigenous data sovereignty. She is also an educator and an expert on genetic and social identities. Her advocacy and academic work in ameliorating disparities in genetics through community-based participatory research has been covered by various national news sources, including The New York Times, Nova, The Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Boston Globe.
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Lisa Seacat DeLuca is an American inventor and engineer.