Women in Tech: Data Scientist at the Global Network & Technology and Founder of Geared Up non profit

Aleena Taufiq

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Aleena Taufiq is a Data Scientist at the Global Network & Technology and the Founder/Executive Director of Geared Up, a nonprofit organization that brings engineering enrichment programs to underprivileged schools across the country. Aleena started with Verizon as a campus hire in 2018, and has worked on a variety of projects within VBG. In January 2020, Aleena received the VBG All In Award. In May 2018, Aleena graduated from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX with Bachelor's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics. She also recently graduated with her Master's Degree in Systems Engineering from SMU in May 2019. At SMU, she was involved in biomedical engineering research for UT Southwestern Medical Center, served as a senator in the Student Government and worked as a tour guide for the engineering school. In her free time, Aleena loves giving back to the community. In 2016, Aleena founded Geared Up, an engineering program for disadvantaged students. It initially began as a local after-school program at one school in Dallas, but she had the opportunity to expand Geared Up to eight schools across the nation in low-income areas as well as in military-based communities. Aleena is continuing to work on her initiative, and she hopes to help provide equal STEM education to students all over the world. She recently transformed this program into an official non-profit organization. Aleena is very passionate about Geared Up, so if you ever want to learn more about it, don't hesitate to reach out!

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