Pathways:  Advancement, Belonging, and Change in High-Tech Careers – October 7

Sarah Chu

Senior Advisor on Forensic Science Policy, Innocence Project

Sarah Chu joined the Innocence Project in September 2008. As the Senior Advisor on Forensic Science Policy, she leads policy work that focuses on improving the valid, reliable, just, and equitable applications of forensic science and police investigative technologies. She served on the Scientific Inquiry and Research Subcommittee of the National Commission on Forensic Science and was the 2021 recipient of the Legal Aid Society’s Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science.  Prior to joining the Innocence Project, Sarah worked in executive search and as a middle school science teacher in the NYC public schools. She also represents her community on her local community board. Sarah graduated from the University of California, San Diego with bachelor degrees in Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Communication, and a Masters in Biology, and holds a Masters in Epidemiology from Stanford University. She is currently a doctoral student in the Criminal Justice program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center where her research interests include the oversight and critical examinations of forensic science and police surveillance technology.

Amba Kak

Executive Director, AI Now Institute (currently on government detail); Senior Researcher, Northeastern University; AI Advisor, Federal Trade Commission

Amba Kak is a technology policy strategist and researcher with over a decade of experience working in multiple regions and roles across government, academia, the tech industry, and the nonprofit sector. Amba currently serves as a Senior Advisor on AI at the Federal Trade Commission and Senior Research Scientist at the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University. Amba previously held the role of Director of Global Policy & Programs at AI Now, where she designed and implemented a pioneering policy research agenda, including the first global compendium on Regulating Biometrics and an international, multi-organization project on Algorithmic Accountability, among many others. Prior to AI Now, Amba was Global Policy Adviser at Mozilla, where she helped develop Mozilla’s policy positions, and supported a multi-pronged campaign for data protection laws in India and Kenya. She also serves on the Program & Strategy Committee for the Mozilla Foundation, where she advises the non-profit on its philanthropic and advocacy work. Trained as a lawyer, Amba received her BA LLB (Hons) from the National University of Juridical Sciences in India. She has a Masters in Law (BCL) and an MSc in the Social Science of the Internet at the University of Oxford, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.

Mary Topper

Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, Governor’s Office of General Counsel

Mary Topper has served as Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer in the Governor’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) since July 2021. In this role Mary focuses on the commonwealth’s data privacy policies, and she works with executive agencies to implement effective privacy practices and ensure compliance with laws, policies, and regulations. Mary is also the Co-Chair of the Privacy and Security Practice Group.

Mary came to OGC from the Office of Administration (OA), where she served as the Chief of Staff and Policy Director. While there, she developed and implemented initiatives with respect to human resources and information technology service delivery. Prior to her time in OA, Mary served as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Public Liaison where she managed the identification, recruitment, appointment, and confirmation of candidates to serve on the commonwealth’s boards, commissions, judgeships, and cabinet-level positions.

Mary is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Juris Doctor from Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law.

Manar Waheed

Associate General Counsel, Civil Rights Team, Facebook

As Associate General Counsel on the Civil Rights Team at Facebook, Manar serves as the team’s civil rights legal expert. She engages in company-wide civil rights reviews with a focus on enhancing protections for marginalized communities and ensuring that the company is moving towards equity on all its platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Manar was a Senior Legislative and Advocacy Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) where she worked on the intersection of issues impacting Arab, Black, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities, including immigration, national security and counterterrorism, white supremacist violence, and hate crimes and bullying. During the Obama administration, she served as the Deputy Policy Director for Immigration in the White House Domestic Policy Council where she assisted with the development of the President’s strategy for building a 21st century immigration system. In addition to immigration policy, this work included addressing anti-immigrant and -refugee sentiment and protecting the rights of all people against discrimination, harassment, and hate attacks. She also served as Policy Director at South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and she provided assistance to domestic violence survivors through civil and criminal systems at Legal Services of New York City and the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women respectively. Manar received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and her B.A. from Wellesley College. 

Rachel Rebouché

Dean
James E. Beasley Professor of Law

Rachel Rebouché is the Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law and the James E. Beasley Professor of Law. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she was the Associate Dean for Research, a position she held from 2017 to 2021. She is also a Faculty Fellow at Temple’s Center for Public Health Law Research.

Dean Rebouché is a leading scholar in reproductive health law, feminist legal theory, and family law. She is an author of Governance Feminism: An Introduction and an editor of Governance Feminism: Notes from the Field. She is also the editor of Feminist Judgments: Family Law Opinions Rewritten, published by Cambridge University Press, and an author of the sixth edition of the casebook, Family Law, with Professors Leslie Harris and June Carbone. In addition, she is writing a book on reproductive health law that is under contract with NYU Press and editing a collection of essays for Law & Contemporary Problems on the pandemic’s effects on issues in contract law.

Laura Bingham

Executive Director, Institute for Law, Innovation & Technology

Laura Bingham, J.D., M.A., directs the Institute for Law, Innovation, and Technology, based at Temple Law School. Working with faculty from across the law school and Temple University, she designs and executes the strategic direction, associated curriculum, research, and programming of the center.

Laura is a globally recognized expert on nationality and migration law and human rights and joins Temple after extensive experience in international human rights litigation.

As a legal practitioner, Laura has led complex investigations and transnational human rights litigation in every major regional system as well as many national courts. Representative matters include a landmark ruling on children’s right to nationality, legal personality, and effective remedies in Zhao v. The Netherlands before the U.N. Human Rights Committee (2020); a judgment nullifying the roll-out of a national biometric digital identification program for failure to respect the right to privacy (Kenyan High Court, 2021); a significant monetary award for members of six Roma families whose village was unlawfully razed by Russian authorities (European Court of Human Rights, 2018); and a groundbreaking decision from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the arbitrary denial of nationality in Anudo v. Tanzania (2018).

Donald Harris

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Liaison
Professor of Law

Donald P. Harris is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Liaison at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Prior to joining Temple, Dean Harris practiced intellectual property law, specializing in patent litigation, as an associate in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward. Dean Harris has spoken at numerous symposia and colloquia, and has written numerous articles on international intellectual property, including articles discussing the international intellectual property treaty, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).