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:

Rosa Arriaga Photo

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.

Learn more about Dr. Arriaga.

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.

Learn more about Dr. Rong.

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.

Previous BridgeUP STEM Faculty Mentors

Betsy Disalvo Photo

Dr. Betsy DiSalvo

Dr. DiSalvo is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing and founder of the Culture and Technology Lab (CAT Lab). Her research engages in the study of informal learning and the impact of cultural values on technology use and production. Dr. DiSalvo’s work has included the development of educational games such as Beats Empire, Hemonauts, and Click! Urban Adventure. She has created business-like structures within the Institute to promote entry level work in computer science and to scaffold those workers to pursue more advanced computer science skills. These projects include the Glitch Game Testers and DataWorks.

Learn more about Dr. DiSalvo.

Andrea Grimes Parker Photo

Dr. Andrea Parker

Dr. Parker is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Parker holds a Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Computer Science from Northeastern University. She is the founder and director of the Wellness Technology Lab at Georgia Tech. Her interdisciplinary research spans the domains of human-computer interaction and public health as she examines how social and interactive computing systems can be designed to address health disparities. Dr. Parker’s research has been funded through awards from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Aetna Foundation, and Google. She has received several best paper honorable mention awards for her research on digital health equity.

Learn more about Dr. Parker.

See also

BridgeUP STEM: Building the Future of Computing

BridgeUP STEM provides opportunities for low-income, first generation Atlanta-area students to learn the skills of computer science and research methodology within a research university setting.

Read more »

BridgeUP STEM Interest Form

BridgeUP STEM is more than a program—it’s a collaborative ecosystem where students at every level thrive. High school Scholars begin their journey by mastering the basics in our summer coding class before diving into real-world,…

Read more »

BridgeUP STEM Scholars

BridgeUP STEM Scholars provides low-income, first generation Atlanta-area high school students who have had minimal or limited access to coding education with an introduction to programming and research methodology.

Read more »

Helen Fellows

Helen Fellows are undergraduates within Georgia Tech’s College of Computing who participate in a one-year paid fellowship in computing research and educational outreach. Fellows are particularly interested in exploring careers in computing research in academia…

Read more »

BridgeUP STEM: Building the Future of Computing

BridgeUP STEM provides opportunities for low-income, first generation Atlanta-area students to learn the skills of computer science and research methodology within a research university setting.

Read more »

BridgeUP STEM Interest Form

BridgeUP STEM is more than a program—it’s a collaborative ecosystem where students at every level thrive. High school Scholars begin their journey by mastering the basics in our summer coding class before diving into real-world,…

Read more »

BridgeUP STEM Scholars

BridgeUP STEM Scholars provides low-income, first generation Atlanta-area high school students who have had minimal or limited access to coding education with an introduction to programming and research methodology.

Read more »

Helen Fellows

Helen Fellows are undergraduates within Georgia Tech’s College of Computing who participate in a one-year paid fellowship in computing research and educational outreach. Fellows are particularly interested in exploring careers in computing research in academia…

Read more »

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…

Read more »

Funding for the BridgeUP STEM program is provided by a generous grant from the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation to NCWIT and to the Georgia Institute of Technology.