In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we are featuring past winners of the Women of Color STEM Awards.
One of these exceptional women is Gandhi Sivakumar. She has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence (AI) and is an Open Group distinguished certified data scientist.
Gandhi graduated with a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications engineering from the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, in 1990.
She later completed a master's degree in software systems at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani.
At IBM, Gandhi has filed over 135 patents and received internal and external awards for outstanding technical innovation.
She was part of the core team member that developed the Network Management Standards for the Telecom Commission of India.
A mentor to university students, women, and junior practitioners, she also served as a board member of the Australian Computer Society.
In a Women of Color magazine interview, Gandhi shared childhood memories of collecting fused tungsten filament bulbs instead of Barbie dolls.
She would remove the filament to try to make a lens out of it by pouring water and performing scientific experiments.
"Inspired by Einstein's theories and then Newton, my soul day and night would seek out the unknown in our technical world," she said. "My ongoing journey to further goals is far off, and I will continue to march beyond the boundaries of gender, age, stage, location, and time."
The Women of Color STEM Awards Conference recognizes remarkable women in STEM and offers great opportunities for professional development, networking, and recruiting.
