Celebrating Women in AI and Machine Learning on International Women in Engineering Day

Hello, Machine Learning & Data Science Enthusiasts!

It’s International Women in Engineering Day this Sunday 23rd June and we’d like to give a big shoutout to some of the amazing women rocking the world of AI and Machine Learning at digiLab.

As a fast-growing startup, our team is ever-expanding and we have been working our socks off to attract brilliant talent, and in particular - brilliant women.

Despite their superpowers, women in AI and machine learning still face some serious challenges – from gender bias to fewer opportunities, which is one of the reasons we’re working hard to achieve a 50/50 gender split across the business - and we’re not far off! Currently, we’re at 37% women and although this is already something to be extremely proud of in a deep tech company, we’re committed to achieving a 50/50 split!

Diversity, equity and inclusion is a core value at digiLab (alongside supporting a good work-life balance with a 4-day work week!), and we believe that more diversity leads not only to better opportunities for all, but also to more creativity and innovation too.

Meet some of the digiLab Wonder Women

Dr Michelle Fabienne Bieger: Michelle Fabienne is a Senior Software Engineer at digiLab, where she supports the wonderful twinLab product team across the full product stack and acts as scrum master of the team. With a master’s in Physics, and a PhD in Astrophysics, her research and use of machine learning tools resulted in coding packages for these tools, as well as an expertise in AI ethics, which she has put to use at digiLab by stepping up as Chair of the AI Ethics Committee.

I work on helping to productise our machine learning library into accessible and explainable AI software for engineers. I also manage our incredibly talented graduates on the product team.

Dr Dorothea Seiler Vellame: Dorothea joined the digiLab team in August 2023 as a Data Scientist, and helps to pioneer new machine learning solutions in the R&D team. Dorothea supports clients on their day-to-day journey adopting and testing our machine learning solutions as they trial new methods to solve clients' complex data challenges. With a degree in mathematics and a PhD in Bioinformatics, she has a particular interest in assessing evaluation tools such as uncertainty quantification.

I have led on a range of projects across sectors, including the water sector, fusion energy, and housing. My role involves quickly getting to grips with new fields, talking to clients to understand their needs, and using machine learning methods to solve it for them or showing them how they might solve the problem themselves using twinLab.

Dr Amanda Niedfeldt: As Head of Business Development, Amanda is an integral part of the digiLab leadership team, working with strategic partners and new clients in engineering to help them adopt machine learning and upskill their employees for the future. Amanda completed her PhD focused on public-private partnerships in the US and has years of experience working in international partnership management and tech transfer and adoption. She has a unique eye for hunting out new markets and opportunities for digiLab, and manages the business development and marketing teams.

I get to work with a wide range of partners and help them navigate the challenges of adopting ML/AI. It is incredibly rewarding to support customers in moving from nervous scepticism to confident use of advanced approaches in their daily work. One of my favourite parts of being Head of Business Development is exploring new markets and discovering opportunities for the business to pursue. I get to meet a wide range of people and learn every day, while thinking strategically about our growth. It’s energising and inspiring to collaborate with all of our brilliant internal teams to navigate the best route of making an idea into a reality.

Jodeci Pugsley: As a research and development graduate at digiLab, Jodeci is a valued Software Engineer in the R&D team, developing digiLab’s machine learning solutions. With a masters in Physics, she has a background working as a research intern in Non-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics at the University of Exeter, where she used QuTip (software built in Python) to develop models.

I am working as a software engineer, jumping into a range of both digiLab products and projects. I come from a Physics background and the learning culture at digiLab has really allowed me to expand my skill set very quickly over the past 8 months.

Inspiring the Next Generation

Want to help bring more women into AI and ML? Here’s how:

Promote STEM: Encourage young girls to dive into STEM fields. Whether it's through mentoring, scholarships, or breaking those pesky stereotypes, every bit helps.

Showcase Role Models: Share stories of these fantastic women. Role models can be a huge inspiration for the next generation of tech leaders.

Create Inclusive Spaces: Support workplaces and communities that champion diversity and inclusion. Equal pay, flexible working conditions, and a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination are key.

On this International Women in Engineering Day, we’d like to celebrate these tech trailblazers. Their groundbreaking work in AI and machine learning isn’t just changing technology – it’s changing the world.

Here’s to celebrating the incredible women in AI and ML today and every day 🎉