Silicon Valley Bangladeshi Women in STEM (SVBW STEM)

  The group's objective is to unite Bangladeshi women currently pursuing STEM careers in Silicon Valley and encourage them to share their knowledge and passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  The group will plan, and host events aimed at networking, offering career guidance, mentoring young adults and working professionals, building lasting professional connections and supporting Bangladeshi STEM women worldwide in their search for STEM jobs.  Through this initiative, STEM professionals who have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience will have the opportunity to give back to the Bangladeshi community. 

 SVBW STEM is an inclusive group that welcomes all individuals who meet the membership requirements. We believe in creating an inclusive and supportive community where everyone can share their passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and contribute to our Bangladeshi community's growth and development. -Currently working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) field in Silicon Valley -BS or higher degree in a STEM discipline from an accredited university -Bangladeshi by origin living in Silicon Valley We would also like to add that STEM women who are or have been in STEM careers in Silicon Valley but have recently been laid off, or on maternity leave, or taking a small break to take care of children, or taking a small break for personal reasons are welcome to become a member. We understand that personal circumstances can affect career paths, and we want to ensure that all women in STEM feel supported and included in our community. *No membersh...

 Sachi Ahmed is a senior scientist at Merck & Co. working on ADCs and bispecifics. With a background in chemical engineering, she has been a researcher in the field of cancer for 20 years and is a published author in scientific journals, including a publication in Nature magazine on  nasal delivery of an IgM drug for SARS-CoV-2 variants . Sachi is also a key inventor on a US patent for  glyco-engineered IgMs .  Prior to Merck, she was at IGM biosciences for 7 years where she led the research antibody production team focused on novel approaches in cancer and Covid-19 therapeutics. She has also previously worked for biotechnology companies such as Abbott, Abbvie, and Merck and has expertise in in-vitro glycoengineering and antibody production to support the development of innovative biologics. Sachi was a founder of the PTPS (Peers Teaching Peers Science) program at the FAME Charter School in Fremont, CA, aimed to inspire children to gain confidence and interest in...

  Fariba Khan is an engineering manager at Apple. She has been an engineering leader for 10+ years of demonstrated excellence. She drives cloud efficiency and security initiatives at Apple for 5 years GHC Career co-Chair, ex-Google, and VMWare. Fariba is an author of several published papers on DDoS defense and IAM policy. In the past, Fariba has worked in Google as Software Engineer. She  wrote the Safe Browsing API client (github.com/google/safebrowsing). Safe Browsing protects more than two billion browsers and devices such as Android, chrome, firefox from phishing and malware. This is what makes Chrome show a big red warning for unsafe sites. She has also contributed to the large-scale system that detects the badness. This means collecting data internally and externally, scoring items for badness, storing the information and monitoring the services -- all through smart design.  She has been a Member of Technical Staff at VMware and Software engieer at Telenav. Fariba ...

 Salina Ahmed is a Technical Project Manager at Google Inc. She has been working at Google for nearly a decade as TPM and Business Analyst and currently focuses on implementing end-to-end reporting processes from design and data manipulation, data engineering, dashboards, and ongoing operations to provide fast and effective insights to the executive leadership teams. She also creates data pipelines and executive reports for Firebase, YouTube, Stack Overflow, GitHub, and Google Analytics.  Prior to joining Google, Salina gained experience at high-profile companies such as the Federal Reserve Bank, Thomson Reuters, GE, and Rogers Communications in Canada.  Salina holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of North Texas, where she received multiple awards and scholarships, including being on the President's and Dean's lists. In her free time, Salina enjoys reading and is a talented painter.

Mita Alamgir has been working as a Technical Project Manager in the Legal Operations team at Gilead Sciences for two years. She is responsible for integrating their CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management system) with SAP and Ariba, also combining TeamConnect ELN with SAP and a Data & Analytics project for the Procurement team.  Mita is an experienced Software Project and Program Manager working in the Bay Area for 35 years. She started as a Scientific Programmer at Molecular Design Limited (Biovia) and became an Engineering Manager delivering multiple releases of 2 core products Cheshire and MDL Draw. She then worked at OSISoft, LLC (Aveeva) as an Engineering Project Manager and then as a Project Manager working on very visible and challenging projects in both Customer Services and Support and IT.  She handled 3 major releases of the PI Data Archive, delivered the first release of the PI Square Community, was Project Manager for Live Library website, handled the upgrade of Epi...

Fariah Mahzabeen is a Co-Founder and COO at Tackle. She is also an assistant professor at San Jose State University. Previously, she worked at Google as Technical Program Manager and at Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet) as Hardware Engineer. Prior to that she was a lecturer at San Jose State University. Fariah is an entrepreneur and mentor, with a vision to build meaningful products that elevate the human experience! She loves to be at the intersection of tech, people, and creativity. Fariah obtained her Ph.D. and Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She is the author of numerous publications and posters. Her most notable publication includes "Multifunctional, integrated, photonic lab-on-a-chip for Astronaut Health Monitoring" in TechBriefs.

Qurratul Ain Sanjida is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California Berkeley. She completed her high school graduation from Joypurhat Girls’ Cadet College in 2021 where she was the College Cultural Prefect. She briefly attended Bangladesh Military Academy before joining UC Berkeley. At UC Berkeley, she is passionate about leadership and an advocate for the beautiful Bangladeshi culture. She is currently the Secretary of the Bengali Student Association at Cal(BSA). On April 17th, 2024, she hosted a professional panel event with Silicon Valley Bangladeshi Women in STEM and BSA. Photo: With Silicon Valley Bangladeshi Women in STEM Sanjida worked with Microsoft TEALS Program and taught Computer Science courses to underprivileged high school students collaborating with other Software Engineers. She is also a proud committee member of the student organization CS Kickstart at Berkeley. Photo: With Microsoft TEALS Program at ...

  Nadia Hossain is a distinguished client service specialist at Mercer Advisors, a role she has held since 2023. Her career in the corporate and private banking industry spans several decades. Her journey began with esteemed financial institutions such as First Republic Bank and Fremont Bank, where she used her expertise and built a solid foundation in finance. At Mercer Advisors, Nadia is known for her personalized approach to client service, diligently working to meet and exceed the financial needs of her clients. Her dedication to understanding each client's unique situation allows her to provide tailored assistance, ensuring that they achieve their financial goals effectively and efficiently. Nadia's objective is not only to serve her clients but also to continually enhance her skills through ongoing education and practical experience in the financial sector. Nadia has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Informatics, and a minor in Financial Accounting, from Indepe...

 Tahrina Ahmed is a director at Cadence. She is an experienced computer architect, excellent technical manager with outstanding leadership abilities, able to coordinate and direct all phases of project-based efforts while managing, motivating and leading teams. She provides strategic insight and landing zones for roadmap planning and design wins. She also identifies value propositions for upcoming technologies and opportunities to introduce new cutting-edge projects across different Business Units. In the past, Tahrina was a Principal CPU Architect and Sr. Engineering Manager at AMD where she led the cross-geographical CPU performance architecture team towards the vision of achieving best-of-class performance and determining future roadmap. She has also worked for Intel as Software Engineering Manager. She was at Cisco as ASIC design Engineer. Tahrina obtained her PhD and Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in E...

 Sarah Rahman is a Director at Silicon Valley Education Foundation (SVEF). Previously, she worked as a Program and Technology Manager at the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute which provides multi-year STEM enrichment, skills training, and leadership development across middle and high school. She also served as a STEM Leadership Institute Science teacher at Santa Clara Unified School District. Sarah has been in STEM leadership roles since 2016.  Sarah attended the 49ers Foundation Fundraiser Dinner on the field at Levi’s Stadium along with the 49ers players. The fundraiser was organized for donors and members of the local nonprofits involved with the 49ers Foundation.  Sarah was also interviewed and featured in the Silicon Valley Voice for her role as a director of the 49ers STEM Leadership Program, demonstrating her expertise and passion for empowering students for success in STEM education,  https://www.svvoice.com/ .  As a director of SVEF, she was also giv...

  Marufa works at Cisco Systems as CX Product Management Finance Manager.  Marufa has been working at Silicon Valley for over 21 years, with extensive knowledge and demonstrated history of working in the computer networking industry. She is skilled in Business Process, Requirements Analysis, Data Analysis, and Cross-functional Team Leadership.  Marufa completed her Bachelors in Science with Computer and Information Systems concentration.  She attended  New York Institute of Technology for her Bachelors degree and graduated with a Magna Cum Laude honor.  Later, Marufa completed Master of Business Administration (MBA) focused in Information Technology  from Golden Gate University.

Mithila Rahman is an e xperienced accountant with demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. Skilled in Accounting, Microsoft Office, Auditing, Financial Accounting, and Financial Reporting.  Prior to that she has worked at Vasona Construction as an accountant. She has a Master's degree in Accounting and Information System from Virginia Tech.

 Dr. Tomalika Paik is an Anesthesiologist at Case Anesthesia. She has been practicing anesthesiology at Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center since 2013.  Dr. Paik obtained her Medical Degree from Boston University and completed her residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She also holds a BS degree in Molecular Biology from UC Berkeley. In addition to her medical career, Tomalika is also a trained Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore) singer.

Farzana Mistee currently works as Program manager at NVIDIA. She has been in the Technology industry for 15+ years.  Mistee has her Bachelors degree in Economics from University of Massachusettes, Boston.

 Rahima Akter is a highly motivated and skilled researcher at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), a leading pharmaceutical company in oncology. She has 10+ years of experience in immuno-oncology drug discovery, serving as a biology co-lead of different early-stage drug discovery programs. Prior to BMS, she worked at Stanford University as a life science researcher in basic immunology lab with a group of dedicated scientists in the field of immunology. She did her MSc degree in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.  She is a physician who did her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at Chittagong Medical College, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

 Farida Islam is a seasoned Product Manager at National Mortgage Insurance Corporation. With over 11 years of experience in Product Management, Project Management, Software Testing, and Quality Assurance, she is well-versed in the Insurance, Financial, Healthcare, and Retail industries. Farida excels in coordinating with cross-functional, geographically dispersed teams and has previously worked at companies such as Kaiser Permanente, FICO, Peet’s Coffee IT, Credit Agricole Indosuez, and Commercial Bank of Ceylon in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is a member of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh. Farida holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Stevens-Henager College in Utah and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET) in Bangladesh, where she also served as the Vice President of Debating Society. In her free time, Farida loves spending time with her family and enjoys outdoor activities, particularly hiking.

Sadia, a Staff Engineer at Apple Inc in the CoreOS Darwin Group, is an experienced software engineer who is passionate about automating challenging problems. She previously worked at Splunk as a lead engineer, developing automation framework libraries and creating AI models for the Splunk UBA (user behavior analytics) product and feature testing. In addition, she automated the installation process of UBA products on various OS platforms, including Rhel, Centos, and Ubuntu, in AWS cloud and vCenter. Sadia has also served as a lead engineer in different groups at VMware.  She earned her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from BUET and graduate degree in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University, California. Sadia is an avid painter. She enjoys working with acrylic paint and oil. In her free time, she also loves to sing Rabindra Sangeet and go on hiking trails.

 Khan A. Lopa is currently working as a Cloud IT Engineer at Hybridge Inc, which provides cloud-based IT solutions to VC firms, start-ups and BioTech and medical research organizations. She also served at Western Digital as an IT consultant for Workspace Services and Technologies Team. Before transitioning into IT, she spent a decade working as a software developer in different Bay Area start-ups, creating web-based SAAS applications. She has contributed to all stages of project life cycle - from planning, design, implementation, testing to staging, production and maintenance.  Lopa obtained her Bachelors degree in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) and worked as a trainee architect in many construction firms in Dhaka while she was a student. She earned a second Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from San Jose State University. Volunteering in local public schools and non-profit organizations is her passion. At her leisure, she lo...

 Liz Haque is the Director of IT Global Operations at Western Digital, where she leads the IT Procurement team and the Enterprise Application Training team, overseeing a global team based in the U.S., India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. With over 15 years of experience in implementing cutting-edge technologies in Cloud Software as a Service, Automation, and Workflow, Liz has transformed business processes for large manufacturing and technology companies. She is a highly collaborative and team-oriented leader, responsible for delivering source-to-pay process and technology transformation and enterprise-wide training for ERP programs.   Prior to her role at Western Digital, Liz worked as a software engineer at Hitachi, where she supported MM and PP modules of SAP and Procure+. She holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from San Jose State University, a Bachelor's degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Strayer and a degree in Computer Engi...

  Arifa Reshmin is a senior manager at Pure Storage which designs  next generation Data Storage Solutions with intelligent software that enables companies to maximize the value of their Data.  She is r esponsible for managing company owned inventory with 100% accuracy, initiated and facilitated projects to monetize EOL products and increase revenue. Arifa is the point of contact for WEEE Management.  She d esigned various auto reports, alerts and analytic dashboards across multiple tools to aid cross functional communication and increase efficiency. Always strive to find a way to improve towards the next level.  In the past, she has worked for SunPower Corporation managing Operations planning. She has obtained her MBA from San Jose State University and Bachelor of Architectural Design and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). 

  Sohani Ahmed is a Director at Morgan Stanley. Previously she was Vice President at Citi Corp. At Morgan Stanley, she is the SEC line owner for secured funding products,  FED/Y9C and SEC/10Q & 10K disclosures reporting. She has p roduced daily and month end Listed Derivatives Margin Actual and Economic P&L, daily and month end Global OTC risk P&L, reported Balance Sheet, P&L variance/commentary and provided sign off on sub-ledger. She has supervised teams in Europe (Glasgow, Scotland) with daily and month end P&L process / issues.  She has also worked at JP Morgan Chase.  Sohani completed her Masters in Finance from Zichlin School of Business, Baruch College, New York. Sohani has been a mentor at Girls.Inc, iMentor, and Columbia University's Double Discovery Center.

 Munira Shahnaz works at Qualcomm in the memory controller group as a senior engineer. Prior to this, she spent 16 years working at Oracle, where she was involved in Research and Development as a design verification engineer. Before joining Oracle, she worked for 4 years as a design verification engineer at Intel Corp. Munira completed a Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University and her undergraduate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from BUET.

Zarin Tasnim Pulam is working as Senior RF Design Engineer in Meta Reality Lab. She is responsible for RF and Microwave Board Level System design which includes technologies like LTE, Wi-Fi, BT/BLE, NFC, GPS, LORA, Zigbee, UWB etc. Prior to working in Meta, she has worked in Amazon Lab 126 and Cisco Systems as RF design Engineer. In her 8 years of career, she has worked as design engineer on products like Cisco Aironet (wireless Access Point), Alexa (Echo Dot, Echo Show, Echo Studio, Echo Glow), hearable and wearable devices (smart watch, Echo frame and Echo Buds), Ring security products, Oculus etc.  Her alma matter is University of Texas at Dallas (Electrical Engineering dept majoring in RF and Microwave). Before coming to US, Zarin did her Bachelor’s from Military Institute of Science and Technology and served as a lecturer in Aeronautical Engineering Dept. She was a faculty advisor in “NASA lunabotics Mining Competition” held in NASA, Orlando, Florida where her team participate...

 Fariah Hayee is an Optical Metrology Engineer at Meta Reality Labs, Facebook. Before joining Meta, she worked as a physicist and scientist at Applied Materials where she gained expertise in waveguide device metrology and process metrology. At Stanford University, Fariah served as a graduate research assistant and was involved in the development and characterization of visible quantum emitters in 2D materials. She designed techniques to correlate confocal photoluminescence and low-voltage scanning transmission electron cathodoluminescence of suspended hexagonal Boron Nitride thin-films. Her work has resulted in the imaging of nanometer-level structures of radiative emitters and the localization of emission beyond the diffraction limit, allowing her to correlate defect structures to their spectral properties. Fariah holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, as well as a Master's and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bangl...