Staff Correspondent

The US Department of State has selected four distinguished scientists to serve as Science Envoys for 2024, including Bangladeshi American data scientist Dr. Rumman Chowdhury. The other selected envoys are Dr. Stephanie “Steffi” Diem, Dr. Sian Proctor, and Dr. Dawn Wright.

Through the US Science Envoy Program, eminent American scientists and engineers leverage their expertise and networks to forge connections and identify opportunities for sustained international cooperation to advance solutions to shared challenges, champion innovation, and demonstrate America’s scientific leadership and technical ingenuity.

The scientists selected to participate in 2024 make up the first all-female cohort in the history of the US Science Envoy Program, said the US Department of State.

The US Science Envoy program was established by the Secretary of State in 2010.

Like their 30 predecessors, the 2024 Cohort will travel as private US citizens to engage internationally with civil society as well as government interlocutors.

The State Department selected the 2024 cohort to take advantage of their expertise in key issues facing the world today: Artificial Intelligence, Fusion Energy, Civil Use of Space, and Ocean Sustainability.

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury is a data scientist and social scientist. She is the CEO of Humane Intelligence, a technology nonprofit that builds a community of practice around evaluations of artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Dr. Chowdhury is also a Responsible AI Fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Previously, Dr. Chowdhury served as Director of the Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability team at Twitter, as well as the Global Lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied Intelligence.

She has earned numerous awards and accolades, including Time Magazine’s 100 most Influential People in AI, BBC’s 100 Women, Worthy Magazine’s top 100, the Bay Area’s top 40 under 40, and Forbes’ labeled her one of Five Who are Shaping AI.

Dr. Chowdhury holds two undergraduate degrees from MIT, a M.S. in Quantitative Methods of the Social Sciences from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego.