Margot Gerritsen

Background

About Margot Gerritsen

I have dedicated most of my career to academia in computational sciences and engineering. For the last 9 years, I focused on Women in Data Science (WiDS) Worldwide, a non-profit organization that I co-founded in 2015. Due to medical reasons, I have recently stepped down and am now enjoying a long leave in Oregon. I'm passionate about supporting women and other underrepresented groups in STEM and so happy that WiDS continues under the leadership of the wonderful Chisoo Lyons. WiDS strives to increase women's representation in data science and AI, fields that are increasingly influencing our lives and societies. WiDS helps lower barriers to entry, provide community and support, offer upskilling and reskilling opportunities and increase visibility. WiDS works to normalize women as innovators, educators and decision-makers. All WiDS programming is by women, for all, and at no cost. Join WiDS at https://widsconference.org. Before spinning off WiDS as a nonprofit, I was a professor at Stanford University. During my research career, I loved designing computational tools for various applications, including energy resources, ocean modeling, sustainability, and data science, and I'm still active in the field. My craziest project was the design of a remote-controlled replica of a pterosaur with National Geographic, which you can see in the NG documentary "Sky Monsters." Some of my most satisfying projects were in assessing large-scale wind and solar projects. The glue connecting all these areas is computational mathematics. I taught courses in computational mathematics, energy and sustainability, and fluid mechanics, and I still love grabbing classroom opportunities.From 2015-2020, I was the Senior Associate Dean for Educational Initiatives in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, and from 2010-2018, I directed ICME, the Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering, both at Stanford University.Before Stanford, I spent some years as a lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. My PhD is from Stanford University in Computational Mathematics, and my MSc is from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. I was born and raised in the Netherlands and left the country for sunnier and hillier places in 1990.