Guest post by Angela Makolo, 2013 TechWomen Emerging Leader from Nigeria
Angela Makolo at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The TechWomen program is really a dream come true. Working at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a research group with my mentor, Helen Budworth, a renowned scientist, is a big step in living my dream. October 10 was a special day for me. I presented a talk at the LabTech Conference of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and it was an awesome experience. The talk was titled, Computation for Biology: The African Perspective. I presented on the state of research in Computational Biology/Bioinformatics in Africa. As a member of the Pan African Bioinformatics Network, it was easy talking about my experience working within the network. The scientist and students in attendance were glad to know about Computational Biology in Africa.
A special interest was rekindled in Trever Nightingale, an expert in building cluster machines and a computing scientist at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Centre (NERSC), the computing hub of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He wants to collaborate with the TechWomen program and my startup research group, the Bioinformatics Research Group at the University of Ibadan. Next week I will have a tour of the supercomputer technology in the lab, and through our collaboration, I hope to one day be able to have a cluster machine for our bioinformatics lab at the University of Ibadan. This indeed is a dream come true!
Other Emerging Leader Activities during the First Two Weeks of TechWomen
Angela has been busy getting the most out of her mentorship and her time here in the Bay Area. Below is a list of exciting activities other 2013 Emerging Leaders have discovered in the short two weeks since they arrived.
- PG&E Energy Center
- Silicon Valley Innovation JAM at Cisco
- Silicon Valley African Film Festival, hosted by the African Diaspora Network
- Golf Land USA
- Eid al-Adha celebrations
- Feast For Good dinner
- Universal Studios
- Impact HUB Oakland’s first Pitch Mixer Entrepreneur Forum
- Indoor skydiving
- Phoenix Theater
- Exploratorium
Nisreen Deeb, Emerging Leader from Lebanon, visited the Pacific Ocean
Angela is an undergraduate and postgraduate lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan. She is also a mentor for her students as a course adviser. After receiving her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Ibadan with a specialization in computational biology and bioinformatics, she worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture for twelve years in various IT capacities. She is also one of the partners at Lampstand Technologies, an IT company with a focus on providing web and software solutions. She is a volunteer project director at the Imoran Centre for Professional and Social Development, Women’s Board (an educational cooperation society), a non-governmental organization with an interest in the wholesome education of young women. The center organizes educational activities for female students and professionals.
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