Join CS Connected on a much-needed conversation on People of Color in Tech. This will be a virtual safe space for POC and allies to have a conversation, ask questions, and get involved. We'll be discussing topics such as systemic oppression, BLM, unconscious bias, how to be an effective ally, and sharing resources for continuing the conversation, as well as tech resources for POC.

UMaine student attendees will be automatically entered for a chance to win the book Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin.

Event Speakers:

Alejandra Diaz, of Hispanic descent (Peruvian): Alejandra holds a Master's degree in Computer Science, is a published author in the journal Cryptologia, and one of the InfoSec Accelerate Women's scholarship winners. She is also an adjunct professor at UMBC and a Cyber Software Engineer at Northrop Grumman.

Sam Mendimasa (African-American): Sam is currently a software engineer at Cisco. He studied computer science at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) where he completed both his BS and MS in 2018 and 2020. He is passionate about cloud security, environmental issues, and improving gender and racial equality in STEM.

Ashley Drexler, of Asian descent (Chinese-American): Ashley is a current UMaine student in the Computer Science program, with a previous BS in Industrial Design from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is the program coordinator for CS Connected and is an ally to the POC community.

CS Connected is a program run by UMaine's School of Computer and Information Science and Educate Maine's Project>Login. Our mission is to give students an opportunity to interact with each other and professionals connections during a time of remote learning.