Dr. Jeewika Ranaweera

Biography:

Dr. Jeewika Ranaweera is a principal engineer working on high-speed microprocessors at Oracle. She received her Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering from ISPJAE in Havana, Cuba and her Master’s and PhD degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada. She is an IEEE Senior Member and a steering committee member for IEEE Future Directions and Digital Reality Committees.

Jeewika authored an eBook about her engineering journey for IEEE Women in Engineering to inspire others to follow STEM careers and illustrated the 1stchildren’s book published by IEEE.

She is passionate about delivering talks on women empowerment, diversity and inclusion, as well as on emerging technologies like AR/VR/ML/AI and Quantum Computing with emphasis on having a diverse environment to eliminate “Bias in AI” that discriminates minority. She also shared her unique insight via a podcast on areas where immersive technologies benefit humanity. In addition, she has been a speaker at the Drive World Conference, ChipChat, IEEE VTS, IEEE CCNC, AWE, IEEE TTM, Grace Hopper Conference, IEEE WIC Summit, and FB Developer Circle. Recently, she delivered a Keynote on “Successful Leadership Development in STEAM Careers,” at the IEEE LAEDC 2020, Women in Engineering/Young Professional Networking session in Costa Rica.

As a Program Evaluator for ABET, she helps guide the content, quality and delivery of ECE degree programs around the world. She volunteers as a female technologist through the Oracle Education Foundation and organizes International Day of the Girl events to ensure a world free of discrimination.

In 2020, she received the "Outstanding member who promoted women in engineering" award from IEEE WIE SCV. She has authored and co-authored many papers published in technical journals, or presented at international conferences. Jeewika holds five US Patents.

Address:Florida, United States

Dr. Celia Shahnaz

Biography:

Dr. Celia Shahnaz is a professor at the department of EEE, BUET, Bangladesh and she received her Ph.D. degree from Concordia University, Canada. She is a senior member of IEEE and a fellow of IEB. 

Dr. Shahnaz has published more than 150 international journal/conference papers. She is a recipient of the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship/Fellowship and Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal for her contribution in Science and Technology. Her research interests include the areas of signal processing for speech analysis and speech enhancement, audio-visual recognition for biometric security, control system, robotics, pattern recognition,  machine learning and deep learning for audio, video, biomedical, power signals, multimodal emotion recognition, and humanitarian technology.

She is the recipient of the 2021 IEEE MGA Achievement Award, 2021 Inspiring Women in Academia Award from Bangladesh brand forum, 2019 R10 Humanitarian Activities Outstanding Volunteer Award, 2016 MGA Leadership Award 2015 WIE Inspiring Member Award, 2013 R10 WIE Professional Volunteer Award.

Dr. Shahnaz has been elected as 2022 IEEE WIE Committee Chair-Elect and she will serve as the 2023-2024 IEEE WIE Committee Chair. She has been appointed as 2022-23 Member, IEEE New Initiative Committee, 2021-23 Chair, IEEE SPS Women in Signal Processing, 2021-23 Liaison between IEEE SPS and IEEE WIE. She is playing leadership roles in many IEEE organizations including IEEE History committee, IEEE Educational Activities Board, IEEE WIE Senior Member Elevation Drive, and IEEE PES society. She has served as the 2018-6/2021Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section.

She has more than 21 years of experience (21 years as an IEEE volunteer) in leading impactful Technical, Professional, Educational, Industrial, Women Empowerment and Humanitarian Technology, Power and Energy-related Projects at national/international levels