After the successful 2020 PoNG Summer Internship Showcase event, PoNG Center’s Leanne Chukoskie, along with her fellow panelists Torrie Dunlap, Amy Johnson, and Mike Roberts each shared their personal views on the importance of diversity within the tech industry while answering audience questions about this topic.
Panelists:
Leanne Chukoskie — Associate Director for the Research on Autism and Development Laboratory, Director of the Power of NeuroGaming (PoNG) Center at the UCSD’s Qualcomm Institute, and also the co-owner and co-founder of BrainLeap Technologies, a company dedicated to developing technologies that help individuals with autism and ADHD lead fuller lives.
Amy Johnson — Product Designer at Tandem, an inclusive tech consultancy in Chicago. She has worked in several different work environments and has a unique perspective on what it means to design and work with others while being on the autism spectrum.
Mike Roberts — CEO and Founder of the San Diego Code School. He is the founder of the first nonprofit Software Apprenticeship program in San Diego California and a board member of the San Diego JavaScript Community.
Torrie Dunlap — Chief Executive Officer at Kids Included Together, an organization that helps schools and other groups create environments that ensure no child is excluded. She began volunteering, joined the Board of Directors, and became a staff member in 2003 and in 2012 became the organization’s CEO.