Maria Patterson (she/her)

Maria Patterson is a tech innovator whose experience operationalizing modern technology spans industry, government, and academia. After earning a PhD in astronomy, she started her career building petabyte-scale data platforms and machine learning pipelines for scientists in a wide range of data-intensive fields, including medicine and earth and space sciences. Maria drove adoption of state-of-the-art technology in modern astronomy, designing and implementing the global open data network for sharing nightly images from the world's largest camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in real-time and introducing scalable data standards now used by scientists internationally. She then moved into industry where she designed and built AI applications for tech startups in a venture studio environment, partnering with entrepreneurs and large organizations to systematically conceive and launch startups as a model for corporate innovation. Most recently, she served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, leading the development of a framework for responsible AI technology adoption at the Department of Labor as well as AI transparency resources and processes for the federal government that have now been introduced in five countries. Maria is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of New Ventures at LG Nova, working towards catalyzing innovations for a better life.