By honoring the inheritance of women in data science, University of Hawaii At Mānoa, researchers are pressure for a more inclusive and innovative future in the rapidly growing field.
Published in the June 2025 issue of PatternsThe play “highlighting the achievements and impact of women in data science” was written by Lauren Higa, a Doctorate student in the program of bioscience and molecular bio-engineers in the College of tropical agriculture and human resilienceand his advisor, Youping Deng, professor and director of the bioinformatics at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (Jabsom).
The article pays tribute to the pioneers, including Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer; Florence Nightingale, who used data to improve public health; And Nasa Mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, whose computer work was crucial for space exploration. These pioneers have laid the foundations for modern data science. It also highlights current leaders such as Fei-Fei Li, whose imagenet project has revolutionized artificial intelligence and computer vision, showing the lasting impact of women in the field.
A call to equity and inclusion
Despite these remarkable contributions, women remain underrepresented in scientific fields, representing only 23% of the global data science of data, according to an anaconda report in 2024. HIGA and DENG maintain that this lack of representation hinders progress, limits innovation and introduces biases into data-based technologies.
To fill the gap between the sexes, Higa and Deng offer a range of exploitable solutions, in particular the strengthening of mentoring and sponsorship opportunities, ensuring fair access to paternity and publishing, and the creation of institutional policies which promote the balance between professional and private life and long -term professional support.
By their research and their leadership at JabsomBioinformatics, the Uh The Mānoa team hopes to inspire a positive change in the landscape of data sciences, which is inclusive, fair and reflects the communities it aims to serve.