Devleena Das was presented with the Helen Grenga Outstanding Woman Engineer Award at the 2019 Women in Engineering Awards Banquet, held on April 11 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. This award celebrates the accomplishments of women in engineering and is presented to a female engineering student who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship, leadership, and service in her field and in the Georgia Tech community. 

Das is a computer engineering major and is graduating this spring. For the last two years, she has been a research assistant in the Human-Automation Systems (HumAnS) Lab, led by Ayanna Howard, the chair of the School of Interactive Computing and the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Chair Professor. In the HumAnS Lab, Das helped to produce a vision-based system to extract features from infants that could predict neuro-motor disabilities. Her novel contribution enables earlier detection of cerebral palsy in infants, without requiring the attachments of sensors onto the infant. 

Das was previously an Opportunity Research Scholar (ORS) in the Sensors and Intelligent Systems Lab, led by Ying Zhang, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). As an ORS researcher, Das helped to develop an adaptive control algorithm for heat dissipation in bio-implantable devices. 

Das has served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for ECE 2035 Programming Hardware and Software Systems and ECE 2031 Digital Design Laboratory. In both courses, she conducted lab sessions, taught students how to use electronic equipment and simulators, and supported students in the design and implementation of their open-ended projects. Highly engaged in K-12 STEM outreach, Das has been a member of both the College of Engineering (CoE) Champion Program and the ECE Student Ambassadors Group. As a CoE Champion, she participated in six on-site visits to public middle and high schools in downtown Atlanta, where she worked with underrepresented minority students on engineering-based activities. As an ECE Ambassador, Das has shared her experiences in 13 tours with prospective students and their parents, in groups of 50 to 70, and she has taken part in various STEM outreach activities with K-12 students.

Das has also been a dedicated mentor in the Women in Engineering (WIE) Program, helping other female students navigate life at Georgia Tech and providing advice based on her internship experiences. As a WIE mentor, she has mentored four ECE first-year women, recommending course-load options, attending professional networking events with them, and introducing them to extracurricular opportunities with ECE. As a result of her commitment to diversity, Das received two WIE scholarships, one each from Texas Instruments and Southern Company. She received these awards because of her active leadership, academic success, and research pursuits in addition to her efforts to increase the number of women in the engineering field.

Cutline: Devleena Das (right) was presented with the Helen Grenga Outstanding Woman Engineer Award at the Women in Engineering Awards Banquet. She is pictured with ECE Senior Associate Chair Mary Ann Weitnauer.