Dr. Jessica Tracy is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Emotion and Self Laboratory at the University of British Columbia. In addition, she is a University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business Distinguished Scholar and author of the book Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success. Jess conducts research in the field of social and personality psychology. Her lab focuses on better understanding the self-conscious emotions we feel when we are evaluating ourselves. Some examples of self-conscious emotions are pride and shame. In her free time, Jess enjoys being outdoors in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. Some of her favorite outdoor activities are hiking, running, visiting the beach, and skiing. Jess received her B.A. in psychology From Amherst College, and she was awarded her M.A. and PhD in social-personality psychology from the University of California, Davis. After a brief postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Davis, Jess joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in 2006. Jess is a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. She has also been the recipient of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Salary Award, the University of British Columbia Killam Research Prize, the Outstanding Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Career Salary Award. In our interview, Jess shares more about her life and science.

The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Marie McNeely, featuring top scientists speaking about their life and c, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

In addition to her job at Intuit, Lador is a WiDS ambassador in Israel, has her own podcast about data science, and is a co-founder of PyData Tel Aviv meetups.

Lador’s team at Intuit focuses on machine learning in security and fraud applications to protect customers’ sensitive financial data from fraudsters and hackers. She and her team use anomaly detection and semi-supervised methods to secure Intuit products and data. “In general, putting AI into products is not an easy task.” But she thinks we need to put a lot of effort into securing our data especially with recent data leaks from Equifax and Facebook. “I think the world is going into that direction with the GDPR and other initiatives. AI has a lot of potential of helping in that domain,” she explained during a conversation with Stanford’s Margot Gerritsen, Stanford professor and host of the Women in Data Science podcast.

Israel has a lot of expertise in the security domain because many young people study security and encryption during Israel’s mandatory military service. She had the option to do this during her service, but since she already knew she would pursue a career in this area, instead she chose to become a pilot instructor in the flight simulator. “It was a very unique experience that I would probably never get to do.”

When Lador was starting her career in data science, she did not know many people in the field. She decided to start a PyData branch in Israel because she wanted to build a professional data science community. “My main motivation was that I wanted to learn and that I wanted to have friends and people to consult with and learn from. And now I have so many data scientist friends because of all this work and it’s great. I love it.”

She noticed when organizing PyData events that it was much easier to get male speakers. When she would ask a talented female scientist to talk about her work, she would say: “No, I’m not an expert… I’m not ready. I need to learn more… I was like, no, you’re enough years in the field. Everyone can learn something from you.”

Being a WiDS ambassador was like an extension of her PyData work. “I get to decide what’s in the conference and bring the best talks there.” Her experience organizing the PyData meetups helped her know how to create a valuable conference. She sees WiDS as a great opportunity to encourage more women to speak by giving them a platform, but also by bringing all the people together. “Seeing all those women on stage. This gives great inspiration to speak at other events, not just in WiDS. I think this is just an amazing initiative.”

RELATED LINKS
Connect with Shir Meir Lador on Twitter (@shirmeir86) and LinkedIn
Listen to Shir’s podcast Unsupervised
Learn about PyData TelAviv Meetup
Read more about Intuit
Connect with Margot Gerritsen on Twitter (@margootjeg) and LinkedIn
Find out more about Margot on her Stanford Profile
Find out more about Margot on her personal website

The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Professor Margot Gerritsen, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

This week we present two stories from people who left home for university and discovered something unexpected.

Part 1: After Kenny Kinds begins lying to his parents about his grades, he has to question why he is in engineering school in the first place.

Part 2: After a tragedy, Brianna Shaughnessy discovers a different way to heal at the Great Barrier Reef.

Kenny Kinds is an application developer/comedian and yes, those two things pair together nicely. He also co-hosts the monthly storytelling show Sorry Please Continue at The Heavy Anchor in St. Louis.

Brianna Shaughnessy is a PhD Student in Environmental Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to joining Jarrett Byrnes’ lab as a Coasts and Communities Fellow, she completed a Master’s of Professional Science through Northeastern University’s Three Seas Program. Her past research focussed on surveying kelp forests with the purpose of assessing the impacts of global change on such critical ecosystems. As a native of Cape Cod, MA, an integral part of Brianna’s upbringing involved constantly questioning and developing a deep respect for coastal communities. Her current research focusses on the development of sustainable fisheries practices in hopes of acting as liaison between the community that raised her and the scientists aiming to understand and protect it.

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The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Story Collider, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

How do you obtain the first experiences in the classroom? How do you learn the vocabulary you need to discuss your teaching experience? As host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast and a faculty member herself these are the two questions Bonni Stachowiak sees early career researchers struggle with. She answers these questions and also jam packs this episode with manageable steps for any graduate student, postdoc or professor to improve their teaching.

The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Christine Ogilvie Hendren and Matt Hotze, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Caroline M. Ritchie, PhD, MBA: PhD Career Coach, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.