BridgeUP STEM at Georgia Tech Faculty Mentors
Faculty mentors and their graduate teams provide BridgeUP STEM students with hands-on exposure to high-level computing research. In this collaborative model, faculty and graduate students mentor Helen Fellows within active research labs; together, these faculty-led teams co-facilitate the interactive BridgeUP STEM Scholars research class throughout the academic year.
Meet Georgia Tech’s BridgeUP STEM Faculty Mentors:
Dr. Rosa Arriaga
Dr. Arriaga is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University, a background she leverages to advance Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Social Computing. Her research focuses on chronic care and mental health, specifically designing mHealth systems that bridge care gaps. These computational tools are designed to foster patient engagement, facilitate continuity of care, promote self-advocacy, and streamline communication with healthcare providers.
Dr. Sonia Chernova
Dr. Chernova is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing and director of the Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning (RAIL) lab. Her research focuses on developing intelligent autonomous systems capable of effectively operating in human environments. With a PhD from Carnegie Mellon and postdoctoral experience at the MIT Media Lab, her work spans robotics and artificial intelligence, including semantic reasoning, adjustable autonomy, and cloud robotics.
Learn more about Dr. Chernova.
Dr. Kexin Rong
Dr. Kexin Rong is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science whose research simplifies large-scale data analytics for non-experts. By combining data management, machine learning, and HCI, she builds tools that make complex datasets accessible. A recipient of the Allchin Early Career Professorship with a PhD from Stanford and a BS from Caltech, Dr. Rong has been recognized with multiple SIGMOD honors. In her BridgeUP STEM course, she guides students through the data science process—from data cleaning to machine learning—via hands-on practical projects.
Dr. Judith Uchidiuno
Dr. Judith Uchidiuno is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interactive Computing and director of the Play and Learn Lab. She specializes in designing culturally informed, sustainable CS education technologies for underserved communities. With a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon, her research has a global reach—ranging from tablet-based learning systems in rural Tanzania to co-designing state-wide AI curricula in the U.S. Outside of her research, she reviews children’s storybooks that celebrate African history and culture.
Learn more about Dr. Uchiduno.