Her Story
About Gozde
Gozde Demirci serves as a research scientist at Meta, where she focuses on deep learning architectures and evaluating the performance of AI systems. Her academic path began with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, which sparked her interest in decision-making processes and AI-related topics, leading her to pursue software engineering and ultimately a PhD. During her doctoral studies at a public college, she specialized in medical imaging and computer vision while facing challenges such as limited access to powerful servers and insufficient grants. Gozde has contributed to the field through teaching and workshops, including a three-month United Nations data science program instructing participants from developing countries on machine learning and data science. She maintains active memberships in Anita.org, supporting Turkish women in software engineering, and CRA. Residing in New York City, Gozde attributes her success to strong family support and motivation derived from meaningful outputs, and she emphasizes ethical considerations and the societal impact of AI work.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Gozde
01What do you attribute your success to?
My family support and motivation are key. I take my motivation from my family and from meaningful outputs. Being the only woman in my department and at events with 300 people really pushed me to succeed despite challenges.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Talk to your advisor first and know them well because they will be important in your 6 years. Don't think you cannot do it or that it's too hard. Everyone is lost at the beginning even the best in their field. Just leap in and jump into it, do not overthink.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge during my PhD was access to powerful servers in public colleges, as without them you cannot follow novel work. Scholarships and grants were not enough for average PhD students, which was frustrating.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Ethical moralities and ethics are becoming more important. Also the meaning of the output and to whom it will be touching and how it will be affecting people. I question what I'm doing and if it helps.
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