Andrea Ramirez Salgado

I am a computer science engineer from Colombia, South America, and I have a PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Florida, where I am currently working. I've been teaching for 18 years, mostly engineering and engineering technology, but in the last couple of years since 2023, I've been focused on hardware AI. My big goal is to bring AI literacy to the masses and demystify the idea that AI is just ChatGPT or an LLM - it's a bigger world in which AI can be used for social good. I'm particularly interested in Edge AI, which is a type of AI that runs locally on devices like pacemakers or vehicles, and how that type of AI can be leveraged for altruistic opportunities. What I've found is that these are the places where women get really interested in being involved, because women typically like to be good vehicles for society. Using these types of AI applications, I've been able to foster interest and self-efficacy in women to be in the AI field. For me, this is really important because if you don't have women's voices in the field, then we're missing a big part of it.