ACM New York Celebration of Women in Computing
Promoting the Academic, Social, and Professional Growth of Technical Women and Their Allies in New York State
April 11-12, 2025
Poughkeepsie, NY
Talks
Friday, April 11th
1:25-2:25 pm
Starlight Room
A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Exoplanetary Atmospheric Absorption Spectra
Vasuda Trehan (University at Albany - SUNY)
The talk will discuss a machine learning model that will act as a forward model to predict the atmospheric absorption spectrum to understand the planet’s atmospheric conditions.
Friday, April 11th
1:25-2:25 pm
Starlight Room
Motivation, perception, and trust: A framework for participation in game-based interventions
Angela Hackstadt, PhD student (University at Albany - SUNY)
Serious games have been widely used in educational and training settings to improve learning and promote behavioral change. However, the effectiveness of these games depends not only on their design but also on players’ willingness to play them. This work develops a framework based on motivation, perception, and trust to explore why someone may refuse to voluntarily play to guide future studies in the design, development, and deployment of serious games.
Friday, April 11th
1:25-2:25 pm
Dutchess Room
Navigating Technological Barriers: The Role of Technology Instruction in Supporting Historically Underrepresented, Economically Disadvantaged, and First-Generation Students
Mayra Santiago (University at Albany - SUNY)
Dwi Sari (University at Albany - SUNY)
Dimaz Ardhi (University at Albany - SUNY)
This talk explores the critical role of technological capital in college success for historically underrepresented, economically disadvantaged, or first-generation students, through a study employing the Solomon Two-Group Design. The research evaluates the impact of targeted technology instruction on students' academic readiness and persistence. The results reveal that structured instructional interventions, such as workshops, improve technological proficiency and self-efficacy. This highlights the need for equitable access to technological instruction to foster inclusive educational environments.
Friday, April 11th
1:25-2:25 pm
Dutchess Room
Creativity and Inspiration: The Importance of Making Weird Little Games
Claire Thomas (University at Albany - SUNY)
In the competitive world of software, it is easy to think that everything you make must be perfect and purposeful. But what do we stand to gain by challenging that assumption and making something silly and weird, just for the sake of it?
2:35-3:35 pm
Friday, April 11th
Starlight Room
Count Me In, or Not?! Crowdsourcing in the Age of Blockchains
Ghada Almashaqbeh (University of Connecticut)
This talk will shed light on blockchain-based crowdsourcing activities, both benign—that build decentralized innovative services, and malicious—that enable mounting attacks against real-world targets. The talk will advocate for developing proper defense frameworks so we can enjoy the benefits of such emerging technology without empowering attackers.
Application of Homomorphic Encryption in Secure and Efficient Communications in Resource-constrained Devices
2:35-3:35 pm
Friday, April 11th
Starlight Room
Bowu Zhang (Marist University)
2:35-3:35 pm
Friday, April 11th
Dutchess Room
Research: What is it? Why do it? And, how do you get started?
Kelly Shaw (Williams College)
You’ve heard students talk about getting involved in research, but you don’t know what that means. If you’re curious to learn about research, including why and how students get involved in it, this talk is designed for you!
Friday, April 11th
2:35-3:35 pm
Dutchess Room
Building Resilient Teams in a Rapidly Changing Tech World
Jayapreetha Natesan (IBM Corporation)
Talk on how women in technology can building resilient teams in a rapidly changing world.
Friday, April 11th
Predictive Modeling of Homeless Service Assignment: A Representation Learning Approach
Starlight Room
5:40-6:40 pm
Khandker Sadia Rahman (University at Albany - SUNY)
Charalampos Chelmis (University at Albany - SUNY)
This session will introduce REPLETE, a groundbreaking representation learning-based predictive model designed to transform service assignment decisions for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
5:40-6:40 pm
Friday, April 11th
Starlight Room
Simulation of Light-driven Processes in Nanomaterials using GPU-accelerated Quantum Chemistry Calculations
Caitlin V. Hetherington (Stony Brook University)
Benjamin G. Levine (Stony Brook University)
How to increase the efficiency of solar cells using nanomaterials? To help answer this question, we run chemistry calculations to see what happens when we shine light on nanomaterials of different sizes and with different compounds on the surface. Our findings bring us one step closer to a cleaner planet with more efficient solar cells.
Friday, April 11th
5:40-6:40 pm
Dutchess Room
Detecting Security Breaches in the Dark Web
Sindhuja Ravikanth (Marist University)
Reza Sadeghi (Marist University)
Explore cutting-edge techniques for detecting security breaches on the dark web. Sindhuja Ravikanth will discuss methods for tracking compromised data and securing digital assets, offering valuable insights for cybersecurity professionals and researchers.
11:30– 12:30 pm
Saturday, April 12th
Starlight Room
Combatting Misinformed Beliefs During the 2024 Presidential Election
Adiba Proma (University of Rochester)
Neeley Pate (University of Rochester)
Gourab Ghoshal (University of Rochester)
James Druckman (University of Rochester)
Ehsan Hoque (University of Rochester)
How can we leverage emerging technologies and personalization to combat misinformation during critical political periods such as the 2024 presidential election? Utilizing personal preference in news sources and rhetorical style, we design a large language model agent in curating a tailored response to combat misinformation and support the truth. We then evaluate our model through a case-control study during the 2024 United States Presidential Election to show the impact of such an intervention.
Saturday, April 12th
11:30– 12:30 pm
Starlight Room
Threat-Based Vulnerability Prioritization Through Prompt Engineering
Jankarlo Villanueva (Marist University)
Tristan Barboni (Marist University)
Hannah Gidos (Marist University)
Kyle Courounis (Marist University)
Dominick Foti (Marist University)
A presentation on the usage of prompt engineering for vulnerability prioritization using MITRE tools and frameworks combining with machine learning models.
Saturday, April 12th
11:30– 12:30 pm
Dutchess Room
Inclusive and Equitable Learning Environments
Angel Ford (University at Albany - SUNY)
Jill Cofield (University at Albany - SUNY)
This talk will explore and provide examples of creating healthy learning environments through cultural proficiency, critical self-reflection, motivational teaching and structured, inclusive pedagogy. We will give examples that can be quickly employed.
Saturday, April 12th
11:30– 12:30 pm
Dutchess Room
Expanding and Sustaining Communities of Women in Computing with ACM-W Professional Chapters
Bettina Bair (ACM-W)