ABOUT THIS WEBINAR
Shristi Sharma grew up in a family of meditators and attended Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, where she learned the TM Children’s technique at age 4, and the TM sitting technique at 10. Her passion for computer science began in fourth grade, when she and her father explored online courses and she discovered a Python class—originally designed for college students. Thrilled by the ability to create computer graphics, she dove deeply into coding, setting the foundation for her future work in AI and cybersecurity. In this webinar, Shristi will share her inspiring journey, including the many awards she has earned along the way, including the Shyamala Gopalan Harris Award for Civil Rights from the Indian American Impact Foundation.
ABOUT SHRISTI SHARMA
Shristi Sharma is a Robertson Scholar—a full-ride merit scholarship shared between UNC–Chapel Hill and Duke University—and the 2021 Maharishi School valedictorian and Pioneer Award recipient.
At Maharishi School, she became a two-time International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist and a three-time Iowa State Science Fair champion for her innovative research projects, which ranged from predicting potential school shooters on Twitter to detecting early-onset Alzheimer’s using smartwatch data. She also received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award and the U.S. President’s Service Award for teaching computer science to girls from kindergarten through 12th grade across her county.
Shristi earned a B.S. in Computer Science with double minors in Psychology and Neuroscience. She published multiple papers on satellite cybersecurity through Cornell University’s Aerospace Adversary Lab and spent a summer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on cybersecurity for space missions. As president of Duke Cyber, she expanded the club from four to more than sixty members, led the team to four national championships in cybersecurity and national security policy, and organized briefings with government officials and NATO leaders on emerging technologies.
Following graduation, Shristi joined Trellix, a global company that specializes in cybersecurity. As an AI Strategist in the Emerging Leaders Program, Shristi helps design and implement artificial intelligence initiatives across multiple cybersecurity product teams.
Connect by phone: Dial (929) 205-6099 or (253) 215-8782, then enter Meeting ID 177 174 913#