Imagine harnessing technology to make informed choices about the products you use daily, from cosmetics to food and wellness items. The task of scrutinizing labels, researching ingredients, and making informed decisions can be overwhelming. Moreover, societal standards and marketing often push consumers towards products with harmful additives, which can have both immediate and long-lasting health impacts. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: Understand Ingredient Complexity: Learn to navigate the complexities of product labels and understand the significance of being informed about the ingredients in personal care items. Detect Text in Images: Employ computer vision technology to identify ingredient lists from captured product images. Manipulate Data: Acquire skills in preprocessing and transforming data, and in visualizing datasets to extract meaningful insights. Develop ML Models: Acquire foundational knowledge of Machine Learning and create a model to classify products into categories based on their potential health risks. Cultural and Social Awareness: Engage in discussions on how beauty standards and ethnic practices influence product choice and explore how technology can support healthier selections. Informed Decision-Making: Develop the ability to leverage technology in choosing beauty products that align with health-conscious lifestyles, avoiding those with harmful ingredients.
Louvere Walker-Hannon is a MathWorks application engineering senior team lead who provides technical guidance and strategic direction on the implementation of AI and data science workflows for various applications. She also manages a team of application engineers. She has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in geographic information technology with a specialization in remote sensing. Louvere has worked in three different engineering roles throughout her 20-plus-year career while at MathWorks. Louvere has presented and continues to present at several STEM-related conferences on various topics and is an active STEM advocate. She has presented her work on natural language processing and presented AI workshops at various conferences. Louvere has presented her AI work at the Grace Hopper Celebration (2018–2020), Women in Data Science (WiDS), and other conferences. Louvere was a keynote speaker as a part of the Black in AI workshop for NeurIPS 2021. Louvere has a long history of serving as a STEM advocate and mentor especially related to underrepresented groups in technology. Louvere frequently and currently volunteers with Black Girls CODE, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) African American and Latinos Affinity Groups, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Women in Data Science (WiDS). Specifically in her volunteer leadership roles she was elected as a SWE Senator for FY23-FY25 and the Programs Chair of NSBE Boston Professionals 23-25. She is also a recipient of the SWE WE Local 2022 Engaged Advocate Award, which honors individuals who contributed to the advancement or acceptance of women in engineering. She is both a WiDS Ambassador and Workshop Committee member in 2022. In 2023, Louvere was highlighted as one of Boston University’s College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni and identified as one of the 10 Most Inspiring Women Driving Technological Progress, in volume 11 of The Silicon Leaders magazine. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering, advocating for STEM Youth outreach for underrepresented groups in STEM, and helping as many people as possible via her work and volunteerism.
Shruti Karulkar is the Quality Engineering Manager for Hardware Connectivity and Development Applications at MathWorks where she leads a team of 25 engineers. Shruti’s team of highly creative engineers works to design and implement cutting-edge tools to qualify MATLAB and Simulink. Shruti leads the Hardware Testing Working Group at MathWorks where she has been instrumental in developing the vision and roadmap for this group which designs and develops infrastructures to qualify hardware ranging from Arduino and Raspberry Pi to sophisticated 5G-enabled spectrum analyzers. Shruti has a long history of serving as a STEM mentor and is a STEM Ambassador for MathWorks. Shruti was a speaker at GHC (2018-2022) delivering successful and popular hands-on AI workshops. She has also delivered hands-on workshops at WECode (2019-20), Open Data Science (ODSC East 2021), Women in Data Science (WiDS 2021-22), and MathWorks conferences MATLAB EXPO and MathWorks Advisory Board. In her spare time, Shruti volunteers at the Russell Elementary School in Boston and teaches programming to kids from marginalized communities. She regularly interacts with the students from her alma mater, Cummins College of Engineering, the first women’s engineering college in India, also her alma mater, and delivers hands-on AI workshops and provides career counseling, empowering students to advance their careers in engineering. Shruti is an active volunteer at the Bennett-Hemenway Elementary School in Natick and coaches kids on their science projects.
Tanmayee Sapre is a Senior Software Developer in the Online Products area at MathWorks. Her journey began in a customer-facing role, providing technical support for the Production Code Generation area. She then transitioned to Quality Engineering, where she created test frameworks for a range of hardware platforms, including maker targets,embedded targets, and SoCs. Leveraging this experience, she moved into a role as a Software Developer, creating infrastructure for developing and configuring hardware targets for over 100 add-on products, ensuring seamless integration with the MathWorks product ecosystem. Before joining MathWorks, Tanmayee enriched her experience at an ed-tech company, Prodigy Education, where she played a pivotal role in developing mobile and web applications for teachers and students. Her work at Prodigy was characterized by a keen focus on data-driven engineering and cloud technologies to foster educational advancements. Tanmayee holds a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where she had the unique opportunity to contribute to the CMOS design and optimization for components used in the Large Hadron Collider at the Department of Physics (High Energy). Today, at MathWorks, Tanmayee is instrumental in enabling the installation and configuration of products and add-ons within the ecosystem. Her passion for technology and its potential to improve our everyday lives remains the driving force behind her remarkable career.
