Joy Buolamwini, class of 2012, is originally from Memphis, TN, and she now studies at Georgia Tech as a Computer Science major. During her first year at Georgia Tech, she worked on the Google Android Health Project to create tools for personal health informatics in the Everyday Computing Lab. She teamed with a member of the lab and another master’s student to enter the Google Android Developers Challenge where their augmented reality application Movue Mobile placed in the top 20 internationally in the travel category. That year, she was also the only freshman finalist in the Inventure Prize, a competition for students with innovate idea to improve society. For the competition, she developed a web-based platforms for parents and students looking for help with the college admissions process. Joy also led a group of students to design a guide robot to help visitors navigate a complicated building on Georgia Tech’s campus. She is currently doing research on employing social robots for the treatment and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Joy recently won a Fulbright to travel to Zambia.
“This summer, I will be interning with Yahoo’s mobile development team in Silicon Valley. I will also be going to Hong Kong to compete in the PolyU Global Student Entrepreneurship Challenge with two fellow Georgia Tech President’s Scholars. Our team was one of only five teams selected to compete from the United States on an international stage with 21 countries represented.”