WiCyS 2026
Conference Team
WICYS 2026 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
GENERAL CO-CHAIR
Janell Straach
Faculty, Rice University
PROGRAM CO-CHAIR
Dr. Ambareen Siraj
Founder, WiCyS
(*Siraj is serving in her personal capacity)
PROGRAM LOGISTICS CO-CHAIR
Celeste Matarazzo
Cybersecurity Researcher, Retired
LOCAL ALLIANCE
Cyber Security and Privacy Research Institute
PROGRAM CO-LEADS
Danielle Strimbu (Lead)
Amani Altarawneh
Basma Basem
Smriti Bhatt
Priyam Biswas
Deborah Kariuki
Elizabeth Rasnick
Jillian Seabrook
Miranda Skar
Junia Valente
Xiao Zhang
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Simone Abe
Shade Adeleke
Motunrola Afolabi
Monika Akbar
Deborah Barnes
Haily Beem
Anahit Behjou
David Bianco
Michelle Bilich
Lynette Borjeson Painter
Katherine Burke
Dawn Butler
Aditi Chaudhry
Jennifer Cox
Dawn David-Swan
Kelsy Ecclesiastre
Dominique Edgerson
Elizabeth Ekedoro
Gbemisola Esho
Rebecca Faerber
Jaclyn Flaherty
Marcie Friedman
Kathleen Gibson
Esther Goldstein
Supriya Gowda
Stephani Guimaraes Lima
Fabiha Hashmat
Cheton Jackson
Avi Jain
Megha Jakhotia
Zainab Jalloh
Ishva Kanani
Aisuluu Kerimbekova
Ayesha Khalid
Mia Khedairy
Brenda Killingsworth
Amulya Sharma Kurumeti
Danielle McAllister
Connar McCasland
Fiona McCrae
Aleise McGowan
Nicole Nichols
Kimberly Ninneman
Chinelo Njoku
Elena Peterson
Melinda Pethel
Grace Pfohl
Erin Ptacek
Windhya Rankothge
Katey Riesing
Faiza Seidu-Adam
Samantha Shields
Allison Spohn
Swetha Srinivasan
Marina St Louis
Melissa Stitts
Bhawini Tripathi
Eliza Wong
Gloria Zayas
PROGRAM CFP MENTORS
Dalal Alharthi
Safwa ameer
Smriti Bhatt
Jennifer Cheung
Christina Crockett
Paula De Albuquerque
Suzanne Dove
Emma Yuan Fang
Kathleen Gibson
Esther Goldstein
Barbara Hewitt
Heather Holliday
Nancy Liu
Betta Lyon Delsordo
Leilia MacNeil
Laura Malave
Evette Maynard-Noel
Connar McCasland
Meghan McLeod
Parisa Moon
Keith Nabozny
Deirdre Peters
Sneha Rangari
Elizabeth Rasnick
Lisa raykowski
Anastasiya Rutus
Meera Sridhar
Cindy Sutherland
Linxi Zhang
Shafia Zubair
SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
Ridhima Agarwal
Chinyere Amaechina
Sylvia Azumah
Gretchen Bliss
Kimberlee Brannock
Debby Briggs
Angela Clark
Susan Crowe
Diara Dankert
Joe Eastman
Jacqueline Elkins
Rachel Gaiser
Nikkia Henderson
Pushpa Kumar
Brenda Leyva
Mary McDonald
Dhruti Mehta
Sharon Mireku
Rita Mitra
Nicole Morris
Ramya Chennai Ramasubramanian
Karen Rosser-Newbold
Penelope Rozhkova
Janice Sanders
Angie Sims-Ceja
Shannon Strum
Sana Talwar
Dee Thompson
Anna Yap
Conference Volunteers
Chelsea Conard
Andrea Frost
Reethee Ghafoor
Mia Harkins
Terri Johnson
Tara Lewis
Mia Partain
Alina Thai
Anusha Vajha
Keena Williams
CONFERENCE SUPPORT
Patty Duffy
Jennifer Haisten
Kimberly Hutcherson
Jaclyn Justice
Pat McCain
Holly McMullin
Patti Palacios
Tia Pearson
Abigail Phillips
WiCyS STAFF
Lynn Dohm (Executive Director)
Mary Jane Suarez Partain (Program Director)
Michele Tomasic (Deputy Director)
Peter Baldwin
Morgan Garland
Hilary George
Colleen Huber
Cameron Mitchell
Quiana Oates
Quintana Patterson
Sarah Porter
Danielle Strimbu
Adaeze Udoh