Dr. Fay Cobb Payton, who received the 2020 BEYA Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award, has been announced as one of the keynote speakers for the National Symposium on Equitable AI at Morgan State University's Center for Equitable Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems.
Payton was recognized at BEYA for her exceptional work as a researcher, board member, international speaker, and entrepreneur.
The symposium, themed "AI in Practice: Impacts, Risks, and Opportunities," will take place on April 5-6 at the Earl G. Graves School of Business & Management. Participants will engage in discussions about real-world applications of AI.
Other keynote speakers include Dr. Sina Fazel pour from Northeastern University and Dr. Arjune Sen from the University of Oxford. The event will feature interactive breakout sessions, a poster showcase, hybrid event options, and networking opportunities during the closing reception.
Payton is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Rutgers University-Newark, as well as a professor emerita in Information Technology and Analytics at North Carolina State University. She has served as an advisor on innovation to the chancellor.
Her research areas include artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare information technology, data bias, and healthcare innovation. She has also participated on the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot Advisory Subcommittee.
In 2021 and 2022, Payton served as a panelist judge for the Forbes AI 50: Companies to Watch ranking, which highlights businesses leveraging machine learning and natural language processing.
As a program director for the National Science Foundation, she worked in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, where she initiated several initiatives.
She led research expansion programs and contributed to initiatives in innovative health, biomedical research, and advanced data science, as well as AI fairness and accountability in the age of AI.
She received the NSF Director's Award in 2020 and is a member of several committees under the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Additionally, Payton is the author of "Leveraging Intersectionality: Seeing and Not Seeing," where she examines the evolving dialogue, evaluations, and recommendations related to leveraging intersectionality.
She believes that having leadership teams that represent the world's population is crucial for navigating the global integration of the 21st-century workforce.