Women in Data Science (WiDS)
  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • WiDStory
    • News
    • Research
    • Sponsors
    • Collaborators
    • Contact
    • Donate
  • Conferences
    • WiDS Stanford 2023 Agenda
    • WiDS Stanford 2023 Speakers
    • WiDS Regional Events 2023
    • Ambassadors 2023 >
      • Ambassador Advisory Council
    • WiDS Ambassador Program
    • Past Conferences >
      • WiDS 2022
      • WiDS 2021
      • WiDS 2020
      • WiDS 2019
      • WiDS 2018
      • WiDS 2017
      • WiDS 2015
    • Conference Committee
  • Datathon
    • Datathon Details
    • Datathon Resources >
      • Datathon Press Release
    • WiDS Datathon Workshops 2023
    • Datathon News
    • Datathon Collaborators
    • Datathon Committee
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Committee
  • Education
    • Workshops >
      • Workshop Instructors
      • Workhop Committee
    • Next Gen >
      • Next Gen Resources
      • Next Gen Committee

Mission Impossible, Fingerprint Recognition, and Connected Cars with Meltem Ballan

7/17/2019

 
Picture
Meltem Ballan is a data scientist working on Connected Cars at General Motors. She brings multiple perspectives to her current work on Connected Cars — drawing on expertise in data science and neuroscience gained during her ever-changing career in academia, entrepreneurship and consulting.

Ballan grew up in Turkey where it’s not unusual for women to pursue careers as scientists. In her youth, she was inspired by Mission Impossible TV shows where agents used futuristic technologies like fingerprint recognition and iris detection. She also loved cars. “Those were the things that I was really interested in. And I think my journey started from there,” she explained during a conversation with Stanford’s Margot Gerritsen, Stanford professor and host of the Women in Data Science podcast.

After studying engineering in college, she pursued her love of cars to work for Bridgestone in Turkey. “I love patterns. And our problem was the tire patterns, how we can identify the right pattern and then balance the car on that right pattern.” She left there for a chance to develop fingerprint recognition algorithms for a NATO-sponsored research center in Turkey.

While she was drawn to technology, she was also fascinated with the brain and got a PhD in complex systems and neuroscience. “I always try to run away from technology because I like to work with people. One of the reasons that I picked neuroscience was I wanted to interact with people.”

This diverse background has prepared her well for understanding both the human and technological perspectives on transforming the driving experience where the car is connected to everything. She says today the car is a platform, and we design the driving experience around sensors and data.

​She believes that within her lifetime we will see autonomous cars everywhere. And she says all data scientists should be trained in the ethics of AI as we need be very mindful how we are using these technologies to improve our lives.
Picture
Meltem Ballan, General Motors

​Listen and Subscribe to the WiDS Podcast on
 Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher.

Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    WiDS Ambassadors
    WiDS Conference
    WiDS Datathon
    WiDS NextGen
    WiDS Podcast
    WiDS Regional Events
    WiDStory
    WiDS Workshops

    RSS Feed

Initiatives

Conference
Ambassador Program
Datathon
Podcast
Workshops 
Next Gen

Follow Us

LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
​Blog

connect

LinkedIn Group
Facebook Group
subscribe
donate

© 2022 Women in data science. Women in Data Science is a Registered trademark of Stanford University. 

  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • WiDStory
    • News
    • Research
    • Sponsors
    • Collaborators
    • Contact
    • Donate
  • Conferences
    • WiDS Stanford 2023 Agenda
    • WiDS Stanford 2023 Speakers
    • WiDS Regional Events 2023
    • Ambassadors 2023 >
      • Ambassador Advisory Council
    • WiDS Ambassador Program
    • Past Conferences >
      • WiDS 2022
      • WiDS 2021
      • WiDS 2020
      • WiDS 2019
      • WiDS 2018
      • WiDS 2017
      • WiDS 2015
    • Conference Committee
  • Datathon
    • Datathon Details
    • Datathon Resources >
      • Datathon Press Release
    • WiDS Datathon Workshops 2023
    • Datathon News
    • Datathon Collaborators
    • Datathon Committee
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Committee
  • Education
    • Workshops >
      • Workshop Instructors
      • Workhop Committee
    • Next Gen >
      • Next Gen Resources
      • Next Gen Committee