Hi! I’m Irene Rogan Shaffer. I’m an experienced computer scientist, product manager, and people manager. I’m also a wife, mom, triathlete, and have completed several half-marathons and a marathon.

Skydiving

Education

  • M.S. in Information and Data Science, University of California, Berkeley
  • M.S. in Computer Science, Boston University
  • B.A. in Economics, Grove City College

Industry Experience

  • PM Manager, AI Development Acceleration Program, Microsoft
  • Program Manager, Machine Learning, Microsoft
  • Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton

Research Interests

  • Machine learning
  • Accessibility
  • Human-computer interaction

Research Importance

Machine learning models are becoming more embedded in our everyday lives. Without a diverse and inclusive dataset, models will be inaccurate for people on the edges of the population, including those with disabilities. However, researchers are motivated by general success of their model, and it has not been demonstrated that including representative data from the edges of the population improve overall performance on the general population. Therefore, representation in datasets remains a significant challenge.

Theoretical Lenses

My research draws from the intersection of several theoretical lenses:

Theoretical Lenses

Native Languages

  • American Sign Language (native)
  • English (native)

Social Media