About this speaker
Dr. Helen Turner serves as Professor of Biology and teaches Data Science at Chaminade University. She is committed to Chaminade’s social justice mission and works to advance equity in STEM for minoritized and marginalized individuals, especially low income, indigenous and veteran students. As Dean of Natural Sciences and VP for Innovation at Chaminade she led capacity building efforts in STEM academic excellence and inclusion over a 15 year period, including the establishment of the region’s first undergraduate Data Science major. She was recently appointed Research Director of Chaminade’s new United Nations CIFAL Center and is Principal Investigator of an extensive grant portfolio funded by NSF, NIH, DoD and private foundations. Notably this includes leadership of a $10M NSF INCLUDES Alliance for Hawaii-Pacific data science that spans research, education and workforce development efforts, and grants from the Air Force and Pacific Intelligence Innovation Initiative that are building pathways for local talent into data science. She serves on the leadership teams of several of Hawaii’s statewide STEM programs. She is a highly regarded educator and researcher, loves teaching and mentoring students, and is an advocate nationally for the potential of the Pacific and its residents to be a source of models that positively inform global change.
