Celebrating Women’s History Month

In honor of International Women’s Day (March 8) and Women History Month, we are highlighting some of the incredible women driving change in science and technology around the world. We’ve paired each profile with an educational resource you can use at home or in the classroom.

Many of these women have been recognized as The Tech for Global Good Laureates for their groundbreaking work to make the world a better place.

Julie Packard is executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which she helped found in the late 1970s. She is an international leader in the field of ocean conservation, and a leading voice for science-based policy reform in support of a healthy ocean. She was honored with The Tech for Global Good James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award in 2019.

Learn about Julie Packard’s work then share your own ideas for conservation in our Planet Protectors lesson.

Biobot’s founders, Mariana Matus, Ph.D. and Newsha Ghaeli, make up a unique team that blends technical expertise with urban insight. Together, they created a new way of studying diseases in wastewater at MIT and launched Biobot, the world’s first company to successfully commercialize sewage data. Headquartered in the Boston area, they aim to extend their wastewater epidemiology platform across the globe. They were named The Tech for Global Good laureates in 2023.

Watch Biobot’s innovator story, then learn how to filter water in our Greywater Gadgetry activity.

As the CEO and Co-Founder at Aluna (formerly KNOX), Charvi Setty is a bioengineer who has dedicated herself to revolutionizing respiratory healthcare. Her background as a software engineer at Genentech and avid gaming led her to create hardware and software at Aluna. Aluna’s portable spirometer empowers people to easily take control of their lung health. The games and challenges on its cell phone app are designed to make monitoring health data more enjoyable. Charvi was a Tech for Global Good laureate in 2023.

See how games inspired Charvi, then Get in the Game and design your own game using computational thinking.

Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary is a pioneer in the science of digital therapeutics. She has more than 20 years of clinical and neuroscience research experience and is a leading expert on the anxious brain. She co-founded Arcade Therapeutics with close friend Raj Amin to deliver the power of therapy to patients in a place we already spent a lot of time — our phones — in the form of the only therapeutic mobile game for anxiety. StarStarter RX is based on Attention Bias Modification (ABM), which trains the user’s brain to choose the positive stimulus over and over again. She was a Tech for Global Good laureate in 2023.

See what led Dr. Dennis-Tiwary from music to the mind, then check out The Tech Interactive’s tips for building Innovator Mindsets.

Victoria Alonsoperez is the founder of Chipsafer, a device that tracks the health of livestock — like a smart watch for cows. She got the idea for her innovation at the age of 12 when widespread disease struck cattle in her home country of Uruguay. Victoria was a Tech for Global Good Laureate in 2020.

Watch Victoria’s innovator story, then think about how you would protect animals in our Wildlife Crossing activity.

Joan Salwen wants to stop cow burps, a major source of greenhouse gasses. She discovered that when red algae is added to a cow’s diet, they burp way less, which is great news for our climate. Now with her organization Blue Ocean Barns she’s figuring out how to grow enough red algae to feed lots and lots of cows. She was a Tech for Global Good laureate in 2022.

See how algae inspired Joan Salwen, then explore another use of algae in Algae String.

Jennifer Loving started her company Destination: Home with a goal to end homelessness in her community — San Jose. There’s a lot of ways they help, but one thing Jennifer knows is they need to keep track of their work, so collecting data is a big part of what they do. This way they know what projects to support and how best to help folks who need homes! Jennifer was a Tech for Global Good laureate in 2022.

See the problems that inspired Jennifer Loving, then apply data science to your own community in our Data Challenge. 

What makes a good leader? Ann Bowers started her career asking that question again and again when she built teams at Apple and Intel while those organizations were growing fast. Later she kept asking that question when she supported nonprofits, universities and other educational organizations. Ann passed away in 2024, and her legacy lives on through the science and technology organizations she nurtured and the people who lead them.

Among other leadership roles, Bowers was board chair and interim CEO at The Tech, where she supported the establishment of The Bowers Institute to provide professional development support to educators and education organizations offering digital lesson plans and professional learning through The Tech Academies.

Challenge yourself to tackle complex problems with our resources for Systems Design.

After earning a master’s in construction management from New York University, Shriti Pandey left her high-paying job in the USA to return to India and study the construction practices in her home country. After witnessing the hazardous effects of stubble burning, she traveled the length and breadth of the country to explore the possibilities of reinventing the existing harmful construction industry. This search gave birth to Strawcture Eco, which harnesses the potential of agricultural residue to build structures that are durable, affordable, and sustainable. Shriti was a Tech for Global Good laureate in 2022.

Learn more about Shriti’s inspiration for Strawcture and then try engineering your own Paper Skyscraper.

A computational and molecular biologist, Sarah Richardson specializes in germ wrangling. As the CEO of MicroByre, she leads the construction of genomic toolkits for bacteria — especially using DNA to teach bacteria to do tricks on command! Imagine bacteria can help transform bio-waste into life-saving cancer drugs, jet fuel, fertilizer, and other chemicals. Their goal is to develop production methods that will one day break our reliance on petroleum and radically reduce our carbon emissions. Sarah was honored as The Tech for Global Good laureate in 2022.

Learn how Sarah Richardson came to work with microbes, then try Making with Microbes yourself.