Lauren Cason
Cofounder & Creative Director
RefractAR

Lauren Cason is a creative technologist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After getting her start in games as an intern at the MIT Game Lab, she went on to work on award-winning titles, including Monument Valley 2, for which she was selected as a Forbes 30 under 30. After then working as a prototyper in the Technology Development Group at Apple, she was the Creative Director of XR at Meow Wolf, where her teams experience, The Garage, was selected as a one of the top XR installations of 2019 by Forbes. Most recently, she cofounded RefractAR, an XR studio that creates immersive experiences, and was one of the first 7 artists to create work for the 2021 Snap Spectacles.

Trilce Estrada, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
University of New Mexico

Trilce Estrada is an associate professor in the department of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico and the director of the Data Science Laboratory. Her research interests span the intersection of Machine Learning, High Performance Computing, Big Data, and their applications to interdisciplinary problems in science and medicine.

Lupe Montoya
AVP Sales & Facility Security Officer
Westwind

Myja Peterson
Chief Business Intelligence Officer
True Health New Mexico

Myja Peterson is the Chief Business Intelligence Officer for True Health New Mexico. With over 25 years of experience in strategic data analytics, project management, and systems design and implementation in the healthcare industry, Myja plays an integral role in the development of the overall business strategy and direction of the organization. She leads the organization’s data, IT, and project management functions to ensure the delivery of affordable, quality healthcare services.

Kristen Sanders
Secure Networking Architect
Aquila Technologies

Kristen Sanders is a Secure Networking Architect and aspiring to be a Wonder Woman of Security. Dedicated to helping others and powered by truth. Lover of all things InfoSec. Passionate about coaching, speaking, and mentoring. Skilled in defending the Enterprise and Industrial Control environments. Driven by a mission of leaving this industry in better shape than she found it. Kristen strives to empower individuals to build a culture of security within their communities.

Myrriah Tomar, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Innovation Commercialization
NM Institute of Mining and Technology

Dr. Myrriah Chavez Tomar is the Executive Director for the Office of Innovation Commercialization with the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT). Currently, Dr. Tomar serves as a member of the President’s Senior Staff and President’s Cabinet at New Mexico Tech. She leads and manages NMT’s intellectual property, contributes to the university’s economic development efforts, and develops NMT as an entrepreneurial university.

Bresdin O’Malley
Technical Resourcing Manager
Rural Sourcing, Inc.

Bresdin O’Malley is a Technical Resourcing Manager at Rural Sourcing, Inc. She also works as an AWS DevOps and Java programmer for various enterprise clients including Cars.com and Cayuse and is enrolled in the online MBA program at New Mexico Highlands with the future goal of becoming a CTO at a startup or enterprise tech company. She also volunteers as the Executive Director of CodeClubs.org which aims to bring free coding clubs to kids Albuquerque.