Women of Faith in Science and Technology

Tara Raam is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research uses animal models to understand how social groups respond to environmental stressors together in order to understand the behaviors and neural characteristics present at a collective level that cannot be observed at the level of a single individual. She is a member of the Baha'i Faith, a world religion which teaches the inherent oneness of all people, harmony of science and religion, and gender equality. She is actively engaged in grassroots community action that promotes spiritual and material well-being in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles. In both her professional and personal aspirations, she is interested in integrating insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and the world's spiritual traditions to better understand human nature and improve human conditions.

Nahid Ahmed is the Director of the Connect Program at Soliya, an international nonprofit that provides technology-enabled global exchange and education programming for young people in partnership with institutions of higher education. Nahid is a facilitator, trainer and conflict resolution expert, and at Soliya, she leads the strategy and implementation of their flagship virtual exchange initiative. She has over 15 years of experience in international education, curriculum development, and program design, and supports universities around the world on integrating global learning and exchange into their curriculum. As Director, Nahid drives the process of designing innovative program models, and supports research collaborations to develop scientifically rigorous tools and further a broader understanding of the transformative power of virtual exchange. Nahid was born in Bangladesh, and grew up in Oman, the United Arab Emirates and India, and has a B.A. in political science and international relations from Clark University. She is driven by the belief that all young people should have the opportunity to explore different cultures and engage meaningfully with their global peers as part of their formative experiences.

Ghanaian Dr. Anita Antwiwaa s a certified Engineer with a PhD in Electronics and Communications Engineering. She is the head of operations for All Nations University Space Systems Technology Laboratory (SSTL), which successfully launched the historic GhanaSat-1, developed by young Ghanaian Engineers from the University in 2017 to take photographs of the Earth and to monitor Ghana's coastal areas. One of her current projects is teaching Space Technology to the Youth using CanSat in order to boost their interest in choosing a career in that area as well as teaching young women in the field of technical and vocational studies, entrepreneurship; as well as using ICT to stand out in branding and marketing their innovative products. Her ambition is also to establish an electronics institution which will train young women in the area of electronic circuits design and assembling as well as give informal training in the area of electronics and electrical devices troubleshooting and servicing to young women who dropped out of school but still want to pursue a career in STEM.