Technology

Marian R. Croak Invented Technology So You Can Make a Call Using Computer

Marian R. Croak (1955–) has not only been in the forefront of the field, she has contributed to the expansion of technology, specifically Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), throughout her career.

Published

4 years ago

March 15, 2021

Kiki

Marion R. Croak is now a vice president of Google

A 2016 study by the New York Times revealed that Black and Hispanic workers who graduated with computer science or engineering degrees were more likely than their white and Asian counterparts to hold jobs outside the fields of technology or engineering. These biased-hiring practices have historically limited opportunities for people of color.

Despite these challenges, Marian R. Croak (1955–) has not only been in the forefront of the field, she has contributed to the expansion of technology, specifically Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), throughout her career.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), VoIP is the technology that converts your voice into a digital signal, allowing you to make a call directly from a computer, a VoIP phone, or other data-driven devices. It may also be referred to as IP telephony, internet telephony, broadband telephony, or broadband phone service.

Croak began her career at AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1982. During her tenure, she served in various positions within voice and data communication. Among the more than 200 patents she holds in several areas, 100 are in VoIP. She has helped advance VoIP technology, including calling and text messaging on cellular phones.

Currently, Croak has more patents under review, and has applied for and been granted more than 350.

During her tenure at AT&T, Croak was aggressive in climbing the ladder. While serving as vice president of Services Network in Research and Development, she was responsible for more than 200 programs dealing with AT&T’s wireline and wireless services, supervising engineers and computer scientists who would assist her in running the programs.

She was later promoted to AT&T’s senior vice president of Applications & Services Infrastructure, where she supervised more than 2,000 computer scientists and engineers. She was also in charge of development, testing, service planning, and product realization.

Croak left AT&T in 2014 for a position at Google. There she served as vice president for site reliability engineering, overseeing hundreds of staffers who troubleshoot complicated software problems across the conglomerate. She was responsible for getting the internet into areas of the world where there was none.

According to a 2020 Wall Street Journal article, that accomplishment makes her “one of the highest-ranking Black female executives among Google’s roughly 200,000 full-time and contract workers.” Only 2.6% of Google’s leadership is Black.

Little has been documented about Croak’s early life. We know that she was born in Pennsylvania and that she often spoke of her father as having an influence on her success. Throughout her childhood, she said, he “pushed her to pursue her passion for science through as many creative ways as possible, such as building a chemistry lab in their home.”

Croak started out on her journey toward engineering and technology in the New York City public schools. She later attended the University of Southern California and Princeton University, earning a PhD in Qualitative Analysis and Social Psychology in 1982.

During a 2020 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Croak said: “I do care more about doing well at work, and yet many of the things I hear people say they’ve experienced, I’ve experienced as well. I feel immensely comfortable having white colleagues and friends and relatives, but sometimes there’s just this slight unawareness that we live in parallel universes.”

Sources: https://thinkgrowth.org/14-black-inventors-you-probably-didnt-know-about-3c0702cc63d2

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/croak-marian-r-1955/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Croak

Image: New America – https://www.flickr.com/photos/newamerica/32576506570/

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Activism

Self-eSTEM Empowers BIPOC Women, Girls in Science, Math

In January 2025, Self-eSTEM will launch digital and generative AI programming, which provides digital literacy and AI literacy training through an entrepreneurial project-based activity. This programming will be a hybrid (i.e. in-person and online). Additionally, thanks to a grant from Comcast, in spring 2025, the organization will have a co-ed series for middle and high school students.

Published

1 month ago

December 9, 2024

Oakland Post

Adamaka Ajaelo. Courtesy photo.

By Y’Anad Burrell
Special to The Post

In a world where technology plays an increasingly central role in all aspects of life, the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education cannot be overstated. Recognizing the significance of STEM for the future, focusing on young women and girls is a critical step in achieving gender equality and empowering the next generation.

Self-eSTEM, an Oakland-based non-profit organization, was founded by Adamaka Ajaelo, an Oakland native who had a successful corporate career with several Bay Area technology and non-tech companies. Ajaelo boldly decided to step away from these companies to give 100% of her time and talent to the non-profit organization she started in 2014 in the belief that she can change the game in innovation and future STEM leaders.

Over the course of a decade, Ajaelo has provided futurist tech programming to more than 2,000 BIPOC women and girls. The organization has an Early STEM Immersion Program for ages 7-17, Emerging Leaders Workshops for ages 18-25 and volunteer network opportunities for ages 25 and up.

While the organization’s programs center on innovation and technology, participants also gain other valuable skills critical for self-development as they prepare for a workforce future. “Self-eSTEM encourages young women to expand on teamwork, communication, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The organization allows young women to enter STEM careers and pathways,” said Trinity Taylor, a seventh-year innovator.

“Our journey over the last decade is a testament to the power of community and opportunity, and I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds as we continue to break barriers and spark dreams,” said Ajaelo.

“By encouraging girls to explore STEM fields from a young age, we foster their intellectual growth and equip them with the tools needed to thrive in a competitive global economy,” Ajaelo says.

Empowering young girls through STEM education is also a key driver of innovation and progress. When young women and girls are encouraged to pursue careers in STEM, they bring unique perspectives and problem-solving approaches to the table, leading to more diverse and inclusive solutions. This diversity is crucial for driving creativity and pushing boundaries in scientific and technological advancements.

Self-eSTEM has fundraising opportunities year-round, but year-end giving is one of the most critical times to support the program. Visit www.selfestem.org to donate to the organization, as your generosity and support will propel programming support for today’s innovators.

You will also find more details about Self-eSTEM’s programs on their website and social channels @selfestemorg

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Feds: California Will Be Home to New National Semiconductor Technology Center

California was chosen by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and Natcast, the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) to be home to the headquarters for the National Semiconductor Technology Center – as part of the Biden-Harris Admin’s CHIPS and Science Act. The CHIPS for America Design and Collaboration Facility (DCF) will be one of three CHIPS for America research and design (R&D) facilities and will also operate as the headquarters for the NTSC and Natcast.

Published

2 months ago

November 6, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock

By Antonio Ray Harvey

The CHIPS for America Design and Collaboration Facility (DCF) will be one of three CHIPS for America research and design (R&D) facilities and will also operate as the headquarters for the NTSC and Natcast.

“We are thrilled that the Department of Commerce and Natcast chose to locate this critically important facility in Sunnyvale, the heart of the Silicon Valley, alongside the world’s largest concentration of semiconductor businesses, talent, intellectual property, and investment activity,” said Dee Dee Myers, Senior Economic Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “The Newsom Administration and our partners across the industry know how important it is to shorten the timeframe from R&D to commercialization.”

According to GO-Biz, the DCF is expected to direct over $1 billion in research funding and create more than 200 employees in the next decade. The facility will serve as the center for advanced semiconductor research in chip design, electronic design automation, chip and system architecture, and hardware security. The CHF will be essential to the country’s semiconductor workforce development efforts.

As detailed in the released NSTC Strategic Plan, the DCF will suppress the obstacles to “semiconductor prototyping, experimentation,” and other R&D activities that will enhance the country’s global power and leadership in design, materials, and process innovation while enabling a vigorous domestic industr“Establishing the NSTC headquarters and design hub in California will capitalize on our state’s unparalleled assets to grow a highly skilled workforce and develop next-generation advancements,” stated U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). “This CHIPS Act funding will propel emerging technologies and protect America’s global semiconductor leadership, all while bringing good-paying jobs to our state.”

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Community

Advanced Conductors Provide Path for Grid Expansion

Utility companies in the United States could double electric transmission capacity by 2035 by replacing existing transmission lines with those made from advanced materials, according to a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Published

3 months ago

October 29, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy UC Berkeley News.

By Matthew Burciaga

UC Berkeley News

Led by Duncan Callaway, professor and chair of the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), and Amol Phadke, an affiliate and senior scientist at the Goldman School of Public Policy, the first-of-its-kind study details a faster and more cost-effective way to expand the grid and connect the more than 1,200 gigawatts of renewable energy projects awaiting approval. The analysis was first published last December as a working paper by the Energy Institute at Haas and has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Heatmap News, and other news outlets.

“Expanding transmission capacity is critical to decarbonization, and we sought to study ways to build it faster and cheaper,” said Callaway.

It currently takes 10 to 15 years to build a new power line and the U.S. is building transmission lines at a lower rate than it was in the past decade. Without sufficient capacity, renewable energy projects often sit in limbo for years as transmission operators study what upgrades—if any—are needed to accommodate the increased loads.

The authors modeled various scenarios to determine if replacing existing transmission conductors with those made with advanced composite-core materials—a process known as reconductoring—could provide a pathway to faster grid expansion.

Several reconductoring projects have been initiated in Belgium and the Netherlands, and utility companies in the U.S. have used the material to string transmission lines across wide spans like river crossings. That technology, however, has not made its way to the majority of overhead power lines that feed residential and commercial customers.

“As we learned more about the technology, we realized that no one had done the detailed modeling needed to understand the technology’s potential for large-scale transmission capacity increases,” said Phadke.

Based on the authors’ projections, it is cheaper—and quicker—for utility companies to replace the 53,000 existing transmission lines with advanced composite-core materials than it is to build entirely new transmission lines.

They assert that doing so would reduce wholesale electricity costs by 3% to 4% on average—translating to $85 billion in system cost savings by 2035 and $180 billion by 2050.

“The level of interest we’ve received from federal and state agencies, transmission companies and utilities is extremely encouraging, and since our initial report, the Department of Energy has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to reconductoring projects,” said co-author Emilia Chojkiewicz, a PhD student in ERG and an affiliate of the Goldman School of Public Policy. “We are looking forward to learning about these projects as they unfold.”

Additional co-authors include Nikit Abhyankar and Umed Paliwal, affiliates at the Goldman School of Public Policy; and Casey Baker and Ric O’Connell of GridLab, a nonprofit that provides comprehensive technical grid expertise to policy makers and advocates.