SheCodesOKC

Join us at Tailwind!

A lightning talk is a short ~5-10 minute talk over anything that you find interesting! Talk topics can range over a personal project, a new technology, or just something that makes you think "hey, I bet other people might like to know about this thing." It's a great way for you as an attendee (and speaker!) to learn about a lot of new things that you didn't know about before.

Talks:

• Megan Allen & Alex Stringer - Swords Annealed in the Forge: standing up an innovative research sector in the government
• Lyssa Prince - Are you ready to TAB out? Learn how important the keyboard is to your users
• Ashwini Ganeshan - Conversation Design

Learn more about our speakers!

Lyssa Prince is a digital accessibility specialist, and she works with designers, developers, and others to ensure that digital experiences are inclusive and usable for everyone, particularly those with disabilities. Lyssa found digital accessibility on the way to being a public librarian, and she has a Master’s degree in Library & Information Science from the University of Oklahoma, which she uses every day to bring user-centered perspectives into her projects. If you have questions about any minute digital accessibility topic, Section 508, the ADA, or her latest read, fire away!

Megan Allen serves as Director of Academic, Community, and Research Partnerships for the Air Force Sustainment Center Software Directorate, working on building partnerships that enable the Software Directorate’s strategic priorities. Prior to joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, Ms. Allen served as Director of Projects and Programs for the Oklahoma City Innovation District, where she developed and implemented programming benefiting private businesses, entrepreneurs, university, and community members aimed at driving economic growth for Oklahoma City. Ms. Allen also has 16 years’ experience in Oklahoma’s higher education system, leading efforts in strategic planning, educational outcomes, student experience, marketing, and program and project management for both the University of Oklahoma (OU) and the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). Ms. Allen earned both her Bachelor of Musical Arts and Master of Human Relations from OU. Additionally, Ms. Allen is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Ms. Allen is an active member of Oklahoma City’s non-profit community, having served the past three years as the Vice President of Programs of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI OKC). Prior to joiningthe PMI OKC board, Ms. Allen served as Board President for the American Red Cross Central and Southwest Oklahoma Chapter Board of Directors. Ms. Allen has also served on the Board of Directors forthe Arts Council of Oklahoma City and the Audit Committee for the Oklahoma Center for Non-Profits. Ms. Allen is an active professional jazz musician, performing regularly throughout the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and is co-owner and founder of The Study wine bar, located in Oklahoma City’s historic Film Row District.

Alex Stringer is a machine learning (ML) researcher with the United States Air Force (USAF). They received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 2014. Alex then received a M.S. in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) with a focus on radar signal processing from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2018. They graduated with a PhD in ECE from OU in July of 2024. Their dissertation research focused on integrating ML into traditional signal processing algorithms to improve the performance of radar systems used in detection, navigation, and tracking. Alex has over ten years of experience performing electronics and software design in Oklahoma. Their career started in 2014 as an electronics system designer for Halliburton Energy Services developing tools for oil well stimulation. In 2016, they joined the USAF’s 76 Software Engineering Group (76 SWEG) as a software developer. Over the past eight years, Alex has established themselves as a technical leader and researcher within the Air Force’s Software Directorate (AFSC/SW). Alex worked alongside two of their colleagues to establish the first AFSC/SW research office in 2020 and has spent five years leading that office’s research efforts. As the AFSC/SW research lead, they established partnerships with AFRL/RI and AFOSR to conduct basic and applied ML research and link that research to workloads supporting advanced programs. Alex also helped to establish partnerships within the academic community, including writing EPA and CRADA language and working closely with partnering academic researchers. Their research has focused on the design of autonomous systems for complex sensing and C2 applications, as well as the development of explainable ML architectures. They have expertise in nearly all forms of ML, with a focus on neural networks, data preparation and analysis, and the integration of ML methods with larger systems. Over the course of their research, Alex has developed numerous novel technologies by integrating ML techniques with classic algorithmic methods. These include several novel adaptive radar detection algorithms, sensor drift reduction methods in navigation, and a patented ML architecture that allows autonomous systems to explain their actions to operators in real time. They have generated numerous peer reviewed publications on these contributions. Alex’s unique expertise in this domain has been leveraged to support 76 SWEG customers with RFI and contract language, advise the AFSC/SW ML strategy, and inform the OUSD(R&E) software modernization strategy. Before entering the research world, Alex served as a supervisor over a team of 18 software engineers. In that role, Alex oversaw the development and testing of an open architecture-based communications sidecar for a major system. They then negotiated a multimillion-dollar follow-on effort with the program office to create a data fusion system. Prior to that, Alex worked as a developer on a DARPA project known as STITCHES. During that time, they worked to integrate messaging standards into the STITCHES transformation graph and served as an expert on open architecture methods and graph theory.

Dr. Ashwini Ganeshan is a leading expert in conversational AI with over 15 years of experience in both academia and industry. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics and previously served as a professor of Spanish before transitioning to AI strategy and design.She specializes in web chat, voice, and messaging solutions, leveraging Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Generative AI, and hybrid models. Her expertise includes language model training, evaluation, and prompt design, along with deep knowledge of speech technologies like Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR).Dr. Ganeshan has conducted extensive research in Hispanic linguistics, focusing on syntax, semantics, and discourse across Spanish-speaking regions. Her understanding of dialectal variation and sociolinguistics allows her to design AI solutions that are culturally and linguistically adaptive for global Spanish-speaking audiences.A thought leader in AI-driven user experiences, she has authored articles on bridging the AI gap and optimizing Large Language Models (LLMs) for localization. A dedicated researcher and educator, she continues to shape the future of AI-powered communication.