Dr. Janell Straach has a diverse background including academic and industry experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science in CS degree from Angelo State University, a Master of Computer Science degree from Texas A&M University, an MBA from The University of Dallas and a Masters and PhD from UT Dallas. Her PhD research was in intelligent systems and recent work has focused on CyberSecurity. Prior to her current assignment with Rice University, she was a member of the faculty at UT Dallas in Richardson, TX. Before her academic assignments, she worked in industry for IBM and a large electric/gas utility organization. She has taught at the college, university and corporate level. Janell’s passion is recruiting and retaining females into technology careers.